The stats behind Newcastle United’s historic Carabao Cup final victory over Liverpool

Newcastle United ended their 70-year trophy drought at Wembley on Sunday, beating Liverpool 2-1 in the Carabao Cup final.

After the game, Liverpool manager Arne Slot admitted that the Magpies’ game plan stopped the Reds from playing in their usual way.

Eddie Howe set his side up to frustrate Liverpool, in what was a very disciplined performance from the entire team.

Sports News Blitz writer Dylan Richardson analyses the stats behind Newcastle’s success, which has potentially given other teams the blueprint on how to beat the league leaders.

Keeping Mo Salah out of the game

Every club that has faced Liverpool this season has had one big question on their mind: How do you slow down Mohamed Salah?

The 32-year-old had two goals and two assists in his previous two matchups against the Magpies this season, so stopping him was always going to be the key.

Slowing down Salah is exactly what they managed to do, with the winger failing to attempt a shot or create a chance in a match for the first time in a Liverpool shirt.

So how did they do it?

Howe predominantly assigned Tino Livramento and Joelinton to mark the Egyptian, but Dan Burn was also used to nullify his threat.

When Liverpool had possession of the ball in the final third, the Magpies utilised the double team to stop Salah from receiving the ball.

Livramento and Joelinton won 11 out of 13 ground duels on the day, limiting Salah to just 23 touches in 90 minutes, with just one of those being inside the Newcastle penalty area.

When the Newcastle pair pushed up the pitch to join in with the high press, Liverpool were forced to go long to Diogo Jota, Luis Diaz or Salah.

The Reds struggled to have any kind of success with the long ball, however, as Burn and his centre-back partner Fabian Schar won 10/12 aerial duels combined across the course of the game.

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Attacking the left-hand side quickly

Newcastle responded to Liverpool’s press by also going very direct, with the right hand side of the Newcastle defence playing a key role in their build-up play.

Kieran Trippier and Schar attempted 23 long passes between them in the game, with the majority of them being aimed diagonally towards the left hand side.

While only 11 of those passes were successful, bringing Joelinton and Livramento into the game was also a key to the success.

Livramento was one of the most used players for the Magpies, having 38 touches of the ball down the left flank so the England international can take a lot of the plaudits when it comes to ball progression.

The 22-year-old also linked up well with Harvey Barnes, who did an unbelievable job covering for suspended star Anthony Gordon on the left wing.

Barnes only had 19 touches of the ball over his 81 minutes, but was very efficient with what he did, driving at stand in Liverpool right back Jarell Quansah whenever he got the ball.

The 27-year-old, who previously won the FA Cup with Leicester in 2021, also created a big chance in the game, beating the offside trap and finding Alexander Isak in the middle of the box.

The midfield dominance

It is safe to say the Magpies’ midfield three bullied the Liverpool midfield throughout the entire game.

Leaving captain Bruno Guimaraes and Joelinton back to sweep up any danger while Sandro Tonali pressed high to prevent the Reds playing out from the back made it almost impossible for Liverpool to have any kind of control in the middle of the pitch.

Liverpool boss Slot summed up Guimaraes and Joelinton perfectly in his interview after the game, saying that the Magpies have “players that are very strong and good in the duels.”

The Brazilian pair won 16 out of 23 ground duels between them, also winning seven free kicks to help dictate the tempo of the play.

When you add the Italian engine of Tonali to that list it becomes so difficult to get the better of that midfield three.

Between them all, the trio made nine tackles and four interceptions in the game.

Whereas Tonali is not as physically imposing as his midfield partners, his energy to still be sprinting up and down the pitch after 100 minutes is why the Toon fanbase adore him so much.

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Crosses towards the back post

The other big talking points from the game were the set pieces, hanging the ball up to the far post away from Virgil van Dijk and Ibrahima Konate nearly every time.

Despite Burn looking threatening from most of the corners in the first half, Liverpool continued to assign Alexis MacAllister to mark him.

Expectedly, they got punished just before half-time, with Burn putting the Magpies in front.

The back-post crosses continued to be a problem in the second half, with Newcastle having a goal ruled out for offside in the 50th minute after a scramble in the box from a corner again.

Liverpool refused to learn from their mistakes though, when just two minutes later Livramento hung yet another cross up to the back post for Murphy to head down for Isak to make it 2-0.

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