A FAMILIAR result, but a slightly different way of getting there.

Manchester City 2 Newcastle United 1: Key lessons from Etihad

A FAMILIAR result, but a slightly different way of getting there. It says much for the scale of Newcastle United’s misery at the Etihad Stadium that a 2-1 defeat can be regarded as something of a moral victory, but while the Magpies might have left the blue side of Manchester with their winless league run at the home of Manchester City having stretched to 22 matches – a Premier League record – they avoided the embarrassment that has accompanied so many of their recent visits to the venue.

Newcastle to ‘seek clarification’ after controversial moment during Man City win
Manchester City beat Newcastle United 2-1 on Saturday night to move two points behind Arsenal in the Premier League.

Newcastle United head coach Eddie Howe has said he will ‘seek clarification’ after Dan Burn’s goal was ruled out during Manchester City’s 2-1 win on Saturday night. The Blues opened the scoring inside 15 minutes when Nico O’Reilly fired in from the edge of the area. Against the run of play, the Magpies pulled level thanks to Lewis Hall’s deflected effort.

City restored their advantage on 27 minutes as Erling Haaland’s cross was met by O’Reilly. Newcastle thought they had equalised again when Burn beat Gianluigi Donnarumma to a free kick. But replays showed the defender was in an offside position

Shortly before the free kick leading to the disallowed goal was taken, Burn was pushed into the offside position by Ruben Dias. When asked about the incident in his press conference, Howe replied: “I don’t know about that rule.

“I haven’t seen the push, so if that is the case, then I’ll seek clarification.” While Newcastle may challenge the decision, Howe did not want to blame the officials for the defeat. “I only saw it from the viewpoint that I thought he was offside so I didn’t see the push because I’m looking at a still frame really,” he added.

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“I don’t think we were on the right end of the decisions today, but I don’t want to go down that road. I’m not one of those managers that wants to continually criticise officials, but I thought again it was one we probably didn’t get the right end of the decisions.”

City’s win moved them two points behind Arsenal in the Premier League. The Gunners will go five points clear again if they beat Tottenham on Sunday.

Obviously nowhere near the levels of the joke that was Aston Villa in the FA Cup the previous weekend.

However, any number of decisions not going the way of Newcastle United at the Etihad.

Eddie Howe asked about yet another poor showing from match officials: “I don’t think we were on the right end of the decisions today but I don’t want to go down that road. I am not one of those managers that wants to continually criticise officials but I thought, again, it was one that we probably didn’t get the right end of the decisions.”

Newcastle United lost 2-1 but very little in the game as NUFC gave as good as they got.

Eddie Howe pleased with a lot of what he saw, especially with such a packed schedule of games and whilst Manchester City had a full week to prepare (and brought nine first choice players back in), Newcastle started with ten of the leven who played in Azerbaijan on Wednesday night.

The United boss: “Considering everything we have put into the last few weeks, that was a good performance. Wasn’t good enough [in the end to get the three points] but we went toe to toe with them. We were equals in the game, we were well in it. Didn’t defend the two goals well enough, that’s the disappointment really. Belief was there right until the end, that Harvey Barnes shot at the end which was a good save. You never quite know how the game will pan out but it is important that you start well and the last few times we have come here, we have conceded early.”

It had been three away victories in a row in three different competitions with United in great form.

However, whilst they played well again, the fact is that defeat at the Etihad leaves Newcastle mid-table and the Champions League places a distance away.

Eddie Howe admitting: “The league table isn’t what we wanted it to be. In part, it’s not based on tonight. We are heading in the right direction, that is the most important thing, because it means long-term we’re going to be fine. We are trying to win every game, not trying to over think games. We don’t want to lose momentum. The feeling has been strong, togetherness is strong, you could see that in the second half. Overall, the players are all out, doing the best for this football club.”