Post-match thoughts
So a big win for Spurs… but at what cost, for both teams, in this battle of the walking wounded?
Ange Postecoglou’s victors lost both Timo Werner and Micky van de Ven to suspected hamstring injuries.
While Pep Guardiola saw Savinho come off on a stretcher and had Manuel Akanji pull out in the warm-up.
It left him with just ELEVEN fit outfit first-team players. No wonder Erling Haaland was left on the bench.
Guardiola said he did not want to waste energy on this competition, now he does not have to after going out of it early on again, three years on from winning it four times in a row.
Spurs’ dream of a first trophy since 2008 is still alive.
View from Tottenham
Pep Guardiola really is down to the bare bones, as Harry Redknapp would put it, after suffering more blows in this lost battle of the walking wounded.
Savinho became the latest casualty as the Brazilian was forced off on a stretcher, leaving Guardiola with just ELEVEN fit outfield first-team players.
Manuel Akanji also picked up a problem in the warm-up, joining Kevin De Bruyne, Jack Grealish, Kyle Walker, Jeremy Doku, Oscar Bobb and Ballon D’Or winner Rodri on the treatment table.
No wonder Guardiola, who had asked for a “good performance, but no more injuries please” ahead of the game, did not want to waste energy on this competition.
Now he will not have to as Tottenham earned a statement win thanks to Timo Werner ending his 12-game goal drought this term and a Pape Matar Sarr stunner.
But it came at a cost for Ange Postecoglou’s men as they lost both Werner and Micky van de Ven to hamstring injuries, either side of a Matheus Nunes strike.
FT: Tottenham 2-1 Man City
Peep!
Tottenham have eliminated Man City from the Carabao Cup!!!
View from St James’ Park
So it’s revenge for Newcastle following Sunday’s Premier League defeat at Stamford Bridge.
And Eddie Howe’s side have also avenged last season’s Carabao Cup KO at the hands of Chelsea.
They’re through to the last eight and a kind draw will evoke memories of two seasons ago when they reached the Wembley final only to lose 2-0 to Manchester United.
Chelsea huffed and puffed in the second half but never looked like overturning the Toon’s 2-0 interval lead.
View from St James’ Park
Newcastle took a trip down memory lane to ignite their season and dump last season’s beaten finalists Chelsea out of the Carabao Cup.
Having been out of sorts for much of the campaign so far, the Toon players rediscovered the energy, flair and goalscoring threat of recent years to lift spirits among a fanbase which was starting to doubt them.
This was the Newcastle who destroyed Chelsea 12 months ago and the previous season too, the red-hot hosts who had previously turned St James’ Park into a foreboding fortress, not the anaemic, goal-shy side of late.
Chelsea have been more pedigree than pantomine in recent weeks but this was a night they resorted to southern softies mode against opponents with the bit between their teeth.
To be fair to the visitors, they had carried the greater attacking threat in the opening 20 minutes but once they gifted Newcastle the lead, there was an inevitability about the outcome.
The two goals which separated the sides, scored in the 23rd and 26th minutes, were both messy, not that the celebrating Toon Army cared a hoot about that.
View from Manchester
If Erik ten Hag was watching in Amsterdam he must have been wondering if this was indeed the same Manchester United team. Why does this always happen?
The old boss goes, his assistant takes over and the team transforms overnight. It makes you wonder what Ruud van Nistelrooy was doing on the training ground in the first place.
Much of this victory that put the Red Devils into the quarter-finals of the Carabao Cup was down to the strength of the opposition. Leicester City fielded a team with nine changes and was similar in strength to that which drew 0-0 with Walsall in the last round before winning on penalties.
United by contrast were strong, Van Nistelrooy wasn’t going to pass this chance up to be a winner from the Old Traford dug out. Mind you to be fair to him whoever pulls on a United shirt nowadays nothing can be guaranteed.
So credit Van Nistelrooy for getting a tune out of this lot just two days after Ten Hag was dismissed. The regular boos heard here became cheers and smiles replaced frowns and shaking heads.
It was reminiscent of..well when they played Barnsley in the last round and won 7-0 but not much else in recent memory.
