\n<\/p>\n
Yet it could have been so different.<\/p>\n
Newcastle may have been feeling the effects of playing with 10 men for so long in a spirited midweek win against Manchester United.<\/p>\n
But Newcastle started this fifth-round tie like a side who recognised that the FA Cup was not only their best chance of winning silverware this season.<\/p>\n
It was also their most obvious route back into Europe at a time when Howe’s team lie in 12th place in the Premier League.<\/p>\n
Newcastle quickly got the crowd into the game with their energy and intent. <\/p>\n
Manchester City goalkeeper James Trafford and defender Matheus Nunes uncharacteristically booted the ball out of play as the hosts pressed high.<\/p>\n
Perhaps, most crucially, Newcastle grabbed the opening goal as Harvey Barnes fired his side in front with a fine curling effort.<\/p>\n
It felt like a familiar script for Guardiola, who had previously seen Barnes score twice in a 2-1 win against his side at this very stadium back in November.<\/p>\n
“The first 15, 20 minutes always happens,” he said. “We talk about that. We could not control.”<\/p>\n
Just as the visitors rallied, though, Newcastle dropped deeper and deeper, and could not get out of their half.<\/p>\n
The Magpies were pinned back by City, who dominated possession and repeatedly played their way through the hosts’ midfield.<\/p>\n
“The way they play and how good they are technically, they took a stranglehold of the ball,” Howe said. <\/p>\n
“When we got it back, we gave it away too easily, maybe looking too vertical and not horizontal enough at times. <\/p>\n
“As soon as you make a technical mistake, you’re not seeing the ball for long periods and then your energy just drains away. That’s why they have been the best team for so long.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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Yet it could have been so different. Newcastle may have been feeling the effects of playing with 10 men for so long in a spirited midweek win against Manchester United. But Newcastle started this fifth-round tie like a side who recognised that the FA Cup was not only their best chance of winning silverware this<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":10030,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10029","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-football"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/outdoorthrill.cfd\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10029","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/outdoorthrill.cfd\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/outdoorthrill.cfd\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/outdoorthrill.cfd\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/outdoorthrill.cfd\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=10029"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/outdoorthrill.cfd\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10029\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/outdoorthrill.cfd\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/10030"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/outdoorthrill.cfd\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=10029"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/outdoorthrill.cfd\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=10029"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/outdoorthrill.cfd\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=10029"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}