Dominic Scurr reacts after Newcastle United's pre Carabao Cup final media day with Eddie Howe, Bruno Guimaraes and Alexander Isak.
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00:00Good morning everyone, just walking out the Newcastle United Media Centre, there you go,
00:07where we've been speaking to Newcastle head coach Eddie Howe, captain Bruno Gimaraes and
00:13star striker Alexander Isak this morning ahead of Sunday's huge Carabao Cup final against
00:20Liverpool at Wembley Stadium, second final in three seasons for Newcastle and a lot of
00:26the narrative around the press conference today was almost like how have things changed
00:31from last time and Eddie Howe says look it's felt different, it's been almost muted compared
00:37to last time, Newcastle have just taken things in their stride, it hasn't been a huge celebration
00:44or uproar of emotion as it was almost at every stage of the competition particularly in the
00:50latter stages when Newcastle beat Leicester in the quarter final, again Southampton in
00:56the semi-final this time, the celebrations only really came and even then they were somewhat
01:01subdued once Newcastle actually made it to Wembley and beat Arsenal 4-0 over two legs,
01:08very windy here at Newcastle Media Centre so I'll try and get some shelter but yeah
01:14Eddie Howe keen to stress the message is different now, there's no point looking back on past
01:19failures or 70 years of hurt in terms of a weight for a domestic honour, it's one game,
01:26Newcastle's chance to make history on Sunday at Wembley Stadium and they'll be up against
01:33a very tough opponent in Liverpool but the belief is there, that's the sense I got from
01:40Eddie Howe and certainly from the likes of Bruno and Alexander Isak, Alexander Isak says
01:45he likes playing against Liverpool, that was a question asked of him, he obviously scored
01:49on his debut against Liverpool at Anfield, scored at Anfield last season and scored a
01:54absolute record at St James' Park back in December so he's a team I like coming up against,
01:59the good games, I think these games work well for me in the way that Liverpool can be countered
02:07upon and that's a big part of Alexander Isak's game, finishing off those counter-attack moves
02:12so there's definite areas for Newcastle to exploit for Liverpool, they weren't able to
02:19do that at Anfield a couple of weeks ago but of course didn't have Alexander Isak a couple
02:23of weeks ago so yeah, Isak obviously asked about his contract, his fitness, he said he's
02:28fine, he said the sort of injury narrative around him was probably over-dramatic, or
02:34dramatic as he put it, in terms of a contract, didn't really address it, he just sort of
02:39said he believes he joined Newcastle to achieve his ambitions and look, heading into Sunday
02:48they've got a chance of earning a title, so that's how he put it, so that's him fulfilling
02:57his ambitions somewhat in Newcastle, competing with the best teams, winning trophies and
03:02looking ahead to Sunday they've got a chance to do that, so that was the message from Alexander
03:06Isak, in terms of a new contract, he said that's something he'll look at in the summer
03:11so yeah, he wasn't completely dismissive of it but didn't really entertain it too much
03:18either, in terms of Bruno, he very much was emotional about the Cowboy Cup final and what
03:27it would mean, he's not lost on him, he's described himself as a Newcastle fan, he said
03:33he dreams all the time about being that man to lift the trophy, walking up those steps
03:39at Wembley and hopes he can be the man to do it and he's confident, that's what I was
03:46getting from him, he described Alexander Isak as the best striker in the world, he said
03:50the team are in a better place compared to what they were two years ago and yeah, the
03:56progress is there to see, although on the pitch at times this season it's been a bit
04:01hot and cold but Newcastle at the best can beat the best teams in the world and he described
04:06Liverpool as the best team in the world so yeah, that was an interesting sort of dynamic
04:13with Bruno and Alexander Isak on the stage after speaking to Eddie Howe as well and Eddie
04:18Howe in terms of injuries didn't really give anything away, he didn't have too much to
04:24say really, he said no fresh injuries after West Ham and that's remained to be the case
04:30speaking to him today, Lewis Hall and Sven Botman have undergone surgery that will keep
04:35Lewis Hall out for about four months and Sven Botman out for about eight weeks so they're
04:40out of the final, Jamal Lascelles out of the final, Anthony Gordon obviously suspended
04:44as well so yeah, in terms of actual clear what's the big line from the press conference
04:54or speaking to Bruno and Alexander Isak this morning, nothing hugely stands out other than
05:00the just overriding feeling around heading into a game of such magnitude for Newcastle,
05:06how Newcastle are as a club, what they're standing is, how they've attracted big players
05:14like Bruno and Alexander Isak to the club and why winning a trophy would be so important
05:19in the history because it would change everything for Newcastle United, it's been a lifetime,
05:24a literal lifetime without success for the club and a trophy, no one really, unless you
05:30were alive in 1955, 1968, no one really knows how it feels to lift that trophy and for Bruno
05:42to be the man to do that, that certainly wasn't lost on him, Eddie Howe again wasn't lost
05:48on him but again I think Eddie Howe was keen to stress that you can focus on the past a
05:54bit too much, it's just about the here and now, focusing on the present, what Newcastle
05:58need to do to beat Liverpool, don't use the past failures as a sort of burden for Newcastle,
06:05you can use it from two years ago as a motivation, don't have that feeling again but don't dwell
06:11on the 2-0 defeat against Manchester United too much, Eddie Howe said they haven't looked
06:16back on it, there hasn't been those reminders of we haven't won a domestic trophy in 70
06:21years, everyone already knows that, everyone knows what it was like, all the players who
06:26played in the game know what it was like to lose the Carabao Cup final two years ago so
06:31it's not a thing Eddie Howe has been keen to focus on, he's been keen to focus on the
06:36game itself, beating Liverpool and how Newcastle do that. I think Alexander Isak summed it
06:42up quite well in terms of, look he's the man, he's going to start the game, unless
06:49barring any dramatic late injury blow, fingers crossed that's not the case, but he's going
06:53to start the game and he said look, playing Liverpool lends itself well to me, catch them
06:59on the break, counter them quickly, players like Bruno getting close to him from midfield,
07:04passing him the ball is going to be key and he believes he can be the man to end that,
07:10not the trophy drought as such, just the Wembley goal drought, Bruno made a reference
07:15to the last Wembley goal scored by Rob Lay, obviously at the Old Wembley and he said,
07:21got a bit of a laugh because he said he was hoping for some good luck from Rob Lay's boots
07:27but anyone who remembers Rob Lay's goal will know he scored with his head so that got a
07:33bit of a laugh from the media in the room at the time, so yeah Bruno was corrected there
07:40but all in all we'll look ahead to a huge game at Wembley Stadium on Sunday and we'll
07:48be there every step of the way, you can catch all the fallout from Newcastle United's press
07:52conference this morning over on theshieldsgazette.com, you can also follow myself at Don Skirt on
07:59X for all of the build up to Wembley, we'll be heading down to London tomorrow for all
08:05the build up, all the fanfare around Covent Garden, things like that and then Wembley
08:10for the big one on Sunday and hopefully history will change, you never know, you never know,
08:15Newcastle underdogs once again as they often are heading into finals but certainly speaking
08:21to Bruno, Isaac and Eddie Howe this morning, the feeling was confidence is high and history
08:27can be made, so will history be made? You can find out, you'll all know but you can
08:33follow the Shields Gazette, everything I have to write from Eddie Howe's press conference,
08:39everything from my colleague Joe Buck as well previewing the game, he'll be at the important
08:44fan zones as well down in London and hopefully it's a good weekend, so be sure to check out
08:52the Shields Gazette, follow myself Don Skirt and hopefully it's a weekend to remember.
08:58Cheers.