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'The intention was to be aggressive' - Eddie Howe reveals Newcastle gameplan in Carabao Cup victory over Arsenal
Newcastle United are into the Carabao Cup final after defeating Arsenal 2-0 at St. James' Park on Wednesday. The result means the Magpies claim a 4-0 aggregate victory over the Gunners after winning the first leg by the same score last month.
Eddie Howe's men employed a strategy of smothering their visitors and forcing mistakes, with Newcastle conceding possession to Arsenal and looking to strike quickly whenever they had the ball.
The strategy paid off in spades as the North London side had no answer for goals by Jacob Murphy in the 19th minute and Anthony Gordon's early second-half strike.
"It was a great night for us," Howe told Sky Sports. "It was a tough game but tactically we were good. The intention was to be aggressive and sometimes when you do that it doesn't always work. Today it did.
"I thought it helped to solidify our plan. We had to retreat at times but we were always in the game."
The Newcastle manager revealed that his players had very little time to work on their game plan for this match, with Howe waiting until after the club's weekend loss to Fulham before starting to prepare for Wednesday's match.
"The work started on Monday, which is quick," Howe said. "The Champions League last year helped us to work on those two-day turnarounds.
"We do tweak things depending on the opposition. We felt we needed more height in the team, we wanted solidity at the back and we had to change in order to win the game.
"The players followed the instruction to the letter, they deserve the credit. Fabian [Schar] had big distances to cover in his job, tracking Declan Rice whether he dropped low or went wide or went central. At times he went right across the pitch. He is a good athlete and is very capable of doing it."
