Another Cash crisis for Benitez
Forest make Rafa’s men suffer again after late drama
NOTTM FOREST 3 NEWCASTLE UTD 1
NOTHING in this world is certain except death, taxes, and Newcastle going out of the cup early.
Only twice in the 11 years of Mike Ashley’s ownership have Newcastle been beyond the fourth round of either domestic tournament and the City Ground was the scene of the latest chapter in a story that is becoming stale and scandalous in equal measure.
It must be boring being a Newcastle supporter when the League Cup or FA Cup rolls around. Changes are made and, invariably, defeat follows — just as it did last year when these teams met at this stage.
Most damningly in the wake of Sunday’s 2-1 home defeat against Chelsea, Rafa Benitez’s side did not manage a shot on target until the second minute of stoppage time when the first-teamers had arrived. Ayoze Perez slipped in fellow substitute Salomon Rondon, who buried his finish in off the far post. But two minutes later Forest broke through Gil Dias. His cross was pushed out by Karl Darlow only as far as Matty Cash, who raced on to the ball and smashed it home.
In the final seconds, Perez had what looked a decent penalty shout turned down, Forest broke away and Dias benefited from dire defending to lift a delicate finish over Darlow.
Perez was so incensed that Benitez had to stop him remonstrating with referee Jeremy Simpson at the final whistle.
Despite the torpid display, the fans in the away end still sang their manager’s name and chanted for the departure of Ashley. But this was a performance that bodes badly for the fight against relegation ahead.
Joao Carvalho, Forest’s £13.2million record signing, enjoyed himself at No 10 and Daryl Murphy was a persistent nuisance against his former club, opening the scoring inside two minutes.
Kenedy was last seen in a Newcastle shirt missing what would have been a winning penalty at Cardiff and inside two minutes here he suffered more bad fortune. Sam Byram had begun assertively and when he picked up the ball by the touchline in the final third he drove past Kenedy with a neatly timed nutmeg.
The Forest right back then whipped a fantastic cross in to the six-yard box where Murphy got in front of Fabian Schar and buried his header past Darlow, giving Karanka’s side the lead after 93 seconds. As is the trend, Murphy declined to celebrate, having been a part of Newcastle’s 2016-17 Championship promotion campaign. Murphy did score six times for Benitez that season so no doubt the affection is genuine, but given this was the 35-yearold’s 100th career goal and a first in this competition, he would have been forgiven a fist pump or two.
And besides, while this was not full-force Newcastle. Benitez had telegraphed in advance that he would rotate his squad, so it was no surprise he made seven changes to the side that stubbornly resisted Chelsea for so long. He awarded a debut to 20-year-old Sean Longstaff in central midfield and gave a sixth appearance to Jamie Sterry, a right back aged 22.
Yoshinori Muto made his first start for Newcastle alongside Joselu up front and the pair went close to equalising nine minutes before the break. Christian Atsu delivered a dangerous corner and Joselu’s glancing header drifted just wide. Joselu got it right after the break when found by Atsu’s cross, drawing a good save from Luke Steele. But flag was up for offside in any case.
Forest went up the other end and very nearly scored a second. Darlow failed to hold a stinging long-range strike from Dias and Murphy was on to the rebound, rounding the Newcastle goalkeeper and aiming to slot in. Only Federico Fernandez’s magnificent diving block denied Forest.
Forest then constructed the move of the game to free Ben Osborn down the left. His cutback found Carvalho, whose delicate chip almost embarrassed Darlow only for the goalkeeper to claw it away acrobatically.