Gordon set to get feel for St James’ Park atmosphere
ANTHONY Gordon will be handed a crash course in life on Tyneside when he witnesses Newcastle’s bid to reach a first League Cup final for 47 years from the stands.
The 21-year-old, who completed a move which it is understood could eventually amount to £45m when he joined forces with the Magpies from boyhood club Everton on Sunday, will be at St James’ Park tonight as Eddie Howe’s men attempt to push home the 1-0 Carabao Cup semifinal first-leg advantage they hold over Southampton.
Howe said: “It will be a really useful experience for him tomorrow to sample the atmosphere. It’s totally different when you’re watching from the stands than it is to playing and feeling it on the pitch, but it will give him an idea of what’s in store for him.
“It is going to be potentially a season-defining game, although we are not trying to focus on it that way.”
Gordon has played at St James’ already this season and found himself a target for the locals after going nose-to-nose with England full-back Kieran Trippier after a difference of opinion on the pitch during Everton’s 1-0 defeat in October.
However, the Magpies’ head coach is confident that kind of passion will be better received once he pulls on a black and white shirt.
Howe said: “I like the fact that he didn’t stand down that day. He was aggressive in standing his position. The supporters will love that about him. Our own players will love that about him.”
The cup-tied frontman will be a more than interested spectator on a night which will assume significant proportions in Newcastle’s recent history if they can avoid only a third defeat in 27 games this season, although Howe will allow his side to take nothing for granted.
He said: “You have to look at it as an independent game. Yes we have a 1-0 lead, but if you focus on that too much before the game or that becomes part of your psychology, then you’re in trouble. “You go into protection mode and we don’t want that, we want to express ourselves in the game and we have to look at it as a league game.
“We’re a game away from a final, which would be an amazing moment for us, but we haven’t achieved it yet and we’ve got a lot of work to do to get there, so it’s about staying in the moment, not getting ahead of ourselves.”
Nathan Jones, meanwhile, is confident Southampton can go toe to toe with Newcastle.
“That’s pretty much like any Premier League game, you know. We had chances against Newcastle, we had good chances against Newcastle.
“We actually scored and had it disallowed so technically we have scored against them. It’s just about being the best version of ourselves.
“We’ll go there with the gameplan, we’ll go there to try and be as positive as we can because we know we have to win the game.
“We can’t go there and be cagey or anything and I think that could play into our hands as well because they’re a good side, a fantastic side, but it’s evenly poised.”