Newcastle United progressed into the fifth round of the FA Cup with a 3-2 win at Birmingham City.
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00:00So here we are myself, Jordan Cronin and Charlie Bennett of Newcastle World where we've just
00:05watched Newcastle United progress into the fifth round of the FA Cup 3-2 win at Liguan
00:11Lleidas, Birmingham City. Charlie, I'll accompany you on your general thoughts on that.
00:16Yes, I've got two for the price of one. We're doing Newcastle World. We've managed to find
00:19a nice little spot. It's been hoisted down for more than a night, hasn't it?
00:24It has, hasn't it? We're both wet.
00:25You see in the odd shirtless tune fan in the rear end there, we're not getting the top
00:29shot from anybody.
00:30They won't just say that.
00:33No, we spoke before the game, didn't we? We said this could be a bit of a hiccup. I even
00:40put on my social media, I thought, you know, Birmingham haven't lost a game in 18 games,
00:45unbeaten since November, top of league one. We knew coming down here at Newcastle we were
00:49going to play a disjointed team. I don't have to tell Newcastle fans about the FA Cup hiccups
00:55that they've had over the years. They said in the press room beforehand it looked like
01:00it could be a bit of a banana skin. And after 30 seconds or whatever it was, they were all
01:05yeah, we'll go or whatever. But they dug in, got a little bit of fortune. I've yet to properly
01:11say that back.
01:12I don't think it was over. If it were over the week, I don't think it was over.
01:15If it had been against Newcastle, I think it would have been some anger there from the
01:20away fans. Look, they rolled the look, they made a few changes. Asula looked a bright
01:27spark and they did what was needed to be done really with a weakened team. Obviously, Nissac
01:33got a rest, Gordon got a rest. Was there an update on Gordon?
01:37Yeah, no, so the injury situation isn't the greatest. Actually, there's a few concerns
01:44ahead of Manchester City next week. So, Anthony Gordon missed a game with a quad injury. Sven
01:50Bottman, of course, was that knee injury, which isn't the knee that he did, isn't his
01:56ACL knee.
01:57Dan Byrne, Dan Byrne.
01:58Dan Byrne came off, but they'll all be assessed ahead of next week. Anyhow, I didn't know
02:04how serious Dan Byrne's injury was. He was reluctant to start the night, but literally
02:09had no other options because of Sven Bottman being out. And yeah, he said he hopes Anthony
02:13Gordon will be back for next week, but can't say yet because...
02:17It's sods low as well. You've got this typical Newcastle United that Sven Bottman's obviously
02:23got a knock. He was out for a long time last season. Dan Byrne, of all players, Mr. Reliable,
02:28had come off injured today after letting Lloyd Kelly blow.
02:33Yeah, that's the typical thing, isn't it, where you literally Lloyd Kelly couldn't get
02:37a kick whilst he was here. And then all of a sudden when he leaves, you're actually in
02:41a position where...
02:42You would have got a game.
02:43Yeah, you need him. He would have started today, but that decision's been made. I think
02:46financially, I think everyone accepts that. But yeah, I think hopefully injuries aren't
02:52too bad because getting through today was big because, as you mentioned at the start,
02:58it was a potential Bernascon, Birmingham flying high at the top of League One. Their fans
03:03are all really, really good today. Electric at the start with all the pre-match build-up.
03:07So it felt like when you castled the nine changes, based on how they played previously
03:12against our league opposition, Bromley and Wimbledon, where they made two or three changes
03:17and, OK, they won those games, but they weren't convincing. It felt like they had a similar
03:21feel today where they might be caught napping. And I actually think maybe that goal after
03:2530 seconds for Birmingham, maybe you had a benefit in your castling because it woke them
03:31up. They actually thought, well, to get a result here, we've got to up the ante and
03:36we've got to be at our best. I don't think they were at their total best, but they found
03:40a way through and, for me, that's all that matters. I think they deserve credit for digging
03:43deep and getting through the next round.
03:45They showed a different side, really, because going to Wednesday, you're playing against
03:49one of the best teams in the world, in Arsenal, and your castlers have got the home crowd
03:54on their side, and they're the ones coming flying out the blocks. It was sort of like
03:59the opposite of that today. Your castlers had to show a different side of themselves.
04:03I thought they did well with that. I thought they caught well. On a positive note, we talked
04:08about the negative injuries. Callum Wilson, I bet there was a few gasps every time here
04:12at Birmingham to defend that because they were kicking lumps out of the Newcastle players
04:15today, weren't they?
04:16I bet there was a few.
04:17Your cast had a couple of nibbles.
04:18Yeah, and I thought Willock, just a few words on Joe Willock. He spoke to the press after
04:23the game there. He said that, spoke in the tunnel, and he said that he wants to use that
04:29as a platform to get back to the best. You know, we've seen Joe Willock when he first
04:36came, he arguably was the only reason Newcastle stayed up when he first came on loan. Then
04:40he sort of fell off a little bit when he came permanently under Steve Bruce, and then the
04:44season with Newcastle finished fourth under Eddie Howe. He was amazing, wasn't he?
04:49Yeah, he was.
04:50He was electric. He said to the press after the game that he wants to get back to his
04:55best form for Newcastle, and obviously that's the first step we've done, so he did that
04:59today.
05:00Yeah, no, he was really heavily involved. He's got the two goals, could have been more,
05:05had a goal ruled out for offside. He was always a threat. I actually think with the amount
05:09of play he had, he could have scored more. But no, it's good signs because there was
05:13a moment in the second half when he went down, it looked like he'd pulled his arm string
05:16and I think, yeah, it was there. That was a worry, but I think about ten minutes, yeah,
05:20he's scoring the winner, so we're seeing those sort of surge in runs down the left-hand
05:24side, didn't we, which have been so sustained from that sort of dynamic, pacey play.
05:29And yeah, I think he showed that tonight, and then on the opposite wing, I thought,
05:32that was a real standout for me. I think if Joe Willock hadn't scored the two goals, Willow
05:37Sewell would have been my man, because he's classed as a striker, but I think he showed
05:42tonight why there's merit in any house, seeing that you could see him as a right forward
05:46when Newcastle have got so many injuries.
05:48I think especially when a player like him, you look, he's not an out-and-out goalscorer.
05:52A young striker sometimes does have to settle. In modern football, a lot of teams only play
05:57with one striker, Newcastle only play with one striker. You might have to settle for
06:02a roll-out wide, he's got the technical ability, but what he will need to work on in time is
06:07that killer instinct in front of goal.
06:10He was my man in the Manchester Spice score, despite not getting on the score sheet, but
06:14it was almost comical. Was it the second goal?
06:17Yeah.
06:18I don't know what happened, he kicked it off his own ankles or something, and it must have
06:21been the most unorthodox assist I think I've ever seen in my life, but that sort of Willow
06:26to live in the tea, today he was effective, but he was also erratic. I think he could
06:32be the latest Eddie Howe successful, you can sort of see already that he's...
06:35You can see the attributes of him why they signed him, because he's quick, he's powerful,
06:41he's a good size. I actually think it would really suit him to be on the right-hand side
06:46because he wants to get at people and he wants to run at people.
06:49In games previously, and again you come up against early opposition when he's been playing
06:55on the right-hand, it's quite hard for him to find pockets of space. Today he was given
06:58the purpose to drive forward and I think he's seen the best of him. I think that was definitely
07:01his best performance in a black and white shirt. I'd say when you've got limited options,
07:06there is probably value in maybe giving him a run on the right side if Jacob Murphy picks
07:11up an injury, because look, Anthony Gordon's injury shows how light they are in that position,
07:16so it's good that he's got some purpose on the right-hand side.
07:24I even saw a different side of him today as well, because when Willison went off, it was
07:28quite early in the second half, it was like 55, 60 minutes or whatever. He was then given
07:33that sort of number 9 role where he had the Birmingham centre-halves right on his back
07:38and trying to kick them a little bit, so good stuff from Willison the other day. He would
07:42have been my man of the match. That was the only little bit of disagreement there, wasn't
07:46it really, from us at Newcastle World. So yeah, I'm still watching anyways, lads and
07:51lads, don't really want to get any more wet, any more drenched outside of the stadiums
07:56and all, so aye, have a good one and we'll catch you later.