On Sunday afternoon, a team gets the chance to end one of the great drought of English football, to anchor themselves in the folklore of a city, to ensure that they never have to pay a drink in their city again. As far as the other boys are concerned, well, it would certainly have put a good ending in a week that would otherwise have been so bright.
It is not that the EFL cup does not matter for Liverpool, or even that the outcome of the final cannot change the tone of their season. It is just that the importance of it for the Premier League champions in Waiting is nothing for Newcastle United to end their waiting for large silverware before it really gets ridiculous. Somewhere on Tyneside there was probably someone born on June 11, 1969, the date on which the Magpies won their last great silverware, the now defeated Inter-City Fairs Cup. It would be nice to add to the trophy cabinet before that person reaches the state pension age.
Alexander Isak proves why he is one of the best in the world after taking Newcastle past Arsenal and in EFL Cup final
James Benge
Since then there have been mistakes-the FA Cup final of 1974 against Sunday’s opponent, a run through the Europa League in 2012-2013 that much promised but only the big entertainers built by Kevin Keegan and continued by Kenny Dalglish in the mid-nineties in the mid-nineties there were just as well as this team.
The side of Eddie Howe, supported by the transforming wealth of the sovereign power fund of Saudi Aarabia, are tailor -made to assume the best in the country. They showed so much in a semi -final against Arsenal where they drove the moments on the back foot, and trusted that star attacker Alexander Isak could win it for them on the other side. Newcastle had to reach Wembley in the hard way and beat Chelsea and Brentford on their way to the semi -final of Arsenal that they won so emphatically. That fits earlier with this team.
Due to the muscleability of their technically excellent midfield, she can drag teams at top level in more spiky occasions than they want, the pace they have when the out balls go to Anthony Gordon (which is suspended for this final), Jacob Murphy and Isak can enable them to lines many lines. They will certainly miss Gordon’s dynamics at Wembley, just like the defensive left side of Sven Botman and Lewis Hall.
They will still have the quality to win on Sundays – every team with Isak and Bruno Guimaraes can win a one -time competition – the question can be whether they have the temperament. Two years ago, Newcastle was a pity to meet a Manchester United side in their only good form of form under Erik ten Hag and just as unhappy that Nick Pope’s injury and Martin Dubravka’s had previously played in the competition for their opponents for their opponents. Likewise it seemed when they came to Wembley.
Howe seemed to acknowledge so much on Friday and emphasized that the mood in the camp felt “very different” than the final of 2023. “We transferred our company to a very calm, professional way,” he said. “We really had a tough run in the Carabao Cup, we went around and ended up in the final. We are very positive. There is much less emotion and much less noise from outside. Hopefully that will help us.
How to look and opportunities
- Date: Sunday March 16 | Time: 12.30 pm et
- Location: Wembley Stadium – London, England
- Live stream: Paramount+
- Chances: Liverpool -150; Drawing +310; Newcastle United +390
“I think [the trophy drought is] A real motivation for us to try to break so long and wait so long that everyone feels. It should be inspiring for us – not negative. It is an opportunity to write history for us as a team – that is very rare in football. “
Certainly, what history can be made for Liverpool is a little more esoteric. There will be no Treble, but a victory on Sunday would draw the men’s level of Arne Slot with Manchester United for the most domestic cups won in England. For some time in April or May they will bind their big rivals on 20 top flights. Add their superior record to the European Cup and the statistical cause that the largest team in the country plays in Anfield is difficult to debate.
Not that the great sweep of English football history will now be in Liverpool Minds. Despite the constant insistence that there are “nine finals” left to play in the Premier League, it has been in the bag at least since last month, demonstrably since mid -January. With the Champions League now from the photo, there is the possibility that a defeat on Sunday could determine the last march of the season at a lugging pace. Or at least more downbeat than can be expected for a club awaiting that first competition title for supporters in a generation.
Even Slot itself cannot help, but a final contextualization around a devastating defeat in a round of 16 draw earlier this week. “It is a great opportunity to be in and especially after losing Paris Saint-Germain we are really looking forward to playing this final now, again, a very good and well-managed team of Eddie Howe with Newcastle,” he said Club Media.
“We have tried every competition in which we were to win. Unfortunately we were already out of the FA Cup and unfortunately we are also out of the Champions League after Tuesday, so there are now only two trophies for us to win. I think the Premier League is generally the hardest thing to win from all of them and you still have a little more than two.”
Slot continued with how Liverpool had won this final last year with a set broken and on Tuesday his side had not succeeded in using 13 of them. For everything that apparently means a first visit to Wembley for the Dutchman, it seems clear that he would like to have had to secure the first part of a Treble.
That is ultimately what the true elite separates, even from contenders for Champions League qualification such as Newcastle. The EFL Cup can only be a beautification for Slot, a great start of a season that is determined by the biggest prizes. In the meantime, history is in the meantime for their opponents.