Carabao Cup: Is it finally The Toon's time to take a trophy?

The first piece of silverware in the English game will be handed out tomorrow at Wembley Stadium, as Newcastle and Liverpool meet in the EFL Cup final, better known these days by its sponsors name, the Carabao Cup.

The contrast between sides in this competition couldn’t be starker. Newcastle have never won this trophy and are famously without silverware of any sort for 70 years, face a Liverpool side who have won this title more than any other side with 10 EFL Cups already in the trophy cabinet. There is one major similarity however, unusually, both the managers have yet to win silverware in the English game, albeit Newcastle’s Eddie Howe has been managing English sides since 2008 and Arne Slot only started just last August. A situation that will be remedied, one way or the other come tomorrow evening.

Final concerns

The sides come into the final off very different weeks. Liverpool, despite having a great season so far, will be no doubt be struggling to overcome the disappointing reality of their Champions League exit at the hands of PSG last Tuesday night and maybe more importantly, the toll that 120 minutes and an eventual fruitless penalty shootout had on their bodies and mentality. Added to that was the injury to key playmaker, Trent Alexander Arnold.

Newcastle, on the other hand, have had a day longer to recover from their compact 1-0 away win over West Ham in the Premier League on Monday night.

That’s not to say that Newcastle are going into the final without their own headaches and issues.

The suspension of the Toon’s talismanic winger Anthony Gordon, for a rather senseless (rush of blood to the head) sending-off is a real blow to Newcastle and even more so for young Liverpool-born Gordon. Added to that are the injury-enforced absences of Lewis Hall, Sven Botman, and Jamaal Lascelles making the Newcastle task even more difficult. There is also a concern to the full fitness of their deadeye Swedish striker Alexander Isak, who is just coming back from own injury but at least started against West Ham on Monday.

On his day, Isak is a lethal sharpshooter, and has scored nearly half of Newcastle’s goals this season. But he will he miss the help and assists that comes from the incisive attack on the left wing of Gordon.

Mental game

Newcastle served up a great game against Liverpool in St James’ Park when they last met in the league, bagging a very late, deserved equaliser. But in that match, they could be considered lucky too to get the draw being at full strength, at home. You feel that Isak will have to be at his very best and take his chances if Newcastle are to win the cup.

How Newcastle handle the occasion is another issue for them. At least they have been in a final of late and made the 2023 Carabao Cup final only to lose 2-0 to Man United. But as they say, you have to lose a final to win a final. If they took on the lessons and experiences of that decider then they will be better prepared for this encounter.

In their favour one wonders how committed will Liverpool be to this final? Having won two of the last three Carabao Cup finals means that it may not be their priority especially when they must see out their Premier League run-in for sure, now that they are out of the Champions League. Still, a final is a final, and the chance of winning a cup never gets tired, so they will no doubt seriously try to win. We will see how the physical and mental exertions of the last week will play on them and how Slot can rejuvenate their morale.

Cork hopes

From a Cork perspective, it will be interesting to see if Slot will use Caoimhin Kelleher for the final. Kelleher effectively won the last two Carabao Cups for Liverpool with his efforts between the sticks and penalty shootouts. He has played the competition all this season, but Slot has expressed his favouritism for Alisson Becker at No 1 all year and might opt for the Brazilian for the final, which would be a shame for Kelleher considering what he’s done for the club this season and considering that it is probably his last final in Liverpool colours.

For Howe, this final may seem a simpler prospect to handle. Just get that first cup in 70 years and you will forever be a Toon legend. But rumours have been coming out of Tyneside that Howe has been told that he will be sacked after the season whether he wins or not. It is thought that the owners, Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund, are looking for a change of direction, maybe opting for a bigger name manager.

How that will affect Howe and team, we will see. But it may add a spirit of ‘do this one for the gaffer’ attitude to the ending the ‘years of hurt’ dynamic already in the Newcastle camp.

Apart from half the football fanbase on Merseyside, most of the soccer world will be egging on the Toon to finally win that cup and end the hurt. It just might be their time.