Manchester City 2 Newcastle 0: Observations from Manchester City’s mature and professional win

Manchester City 2 (Antoine Semenyo 53′, Rayan Cherki 90+8′)

Newcastle United 0

Manchester City took control of their Carabao Cup semi-final tie against Newcastle United with a 2-nil win over Eddie Howe’s side at St. James Park. Second half goals from Antoine Semenyo and Rayan Cherki were enough for Pep Guardiola’s side to seize the initiative in the tie. The second leg will take place at the Etihad on February 4. Newcastle did have their moments, as Yoane Wissa missed a simple chance at the beginning of the match and James Trafford denied Wissa again in the second half before Bruno Guimaraes hit the post prior to City opening the scoring. But from the point that Antoine Semenyo opened the scoring, you always felt that City had control of the match as they put in a mature display at St. James’ Park.

Here are my observations from a mature Manchester City win where the performance felt like a massive step was taken by Pep Guardiola’s side. VAR also had its moment at St. James Park in a major talking point to emerge from the match.

Manchester City put in a mature performance in a hostile environment.

This season has been a journey so far, watching this new-look Manchester City side grow and mature. There have been constant signs of progress throughout this season, mixed in with growing pains. That was to be expected as this City side grows and matures together. Last night’s match at St. James Park felt like a big moment for Pep Guardiola’s side. It was a big test in a hostile environment. At the final whistle, it was a test that City had passed.

The first half, while entertaining, was devoid of any real goal-mouth action besides Yoane Wissa’s miss in the fourth minute. Newcastle had their moments on the break, but City were content to keep possession and keep the crowd out of the game. For the first half, Manchester City’s plan had worked.

The game opened up in the second half, and it was Manchester City who would take a massive advantage from tonight’s first leg. Both teams had their chances, but goals from Antoine Semenyo and Rayan Cherki secured City the win. Yes, Newcastle had their chances before City opened the scoring in the 53rd minute, but it was almost the perfect away performance from City in the first leg of a two-legged tie.

For me, Manchester City’s performance was reminiscent of the controlled away performances we saw during their successful Champions League campaign in the 22/23 season. Yes, City weren’t perfect, but this team followed Pep Guardiola’s blueprint, and that was pleasing to see.

Antoine Semenyo has made an immediate difference to the City attack.

Antoine Semenyo has now played two games for Manchester City and has scored two goals. He should have had three City goals in two matches, but more on that in a moment. What Semenyo has added to Pep Guardiola’s squad is clear to see. His opening goal tonight showed it in spades.

Raheem Sterling scored a host of goals for City, drifting in from the wing for tap-ins. Riyad Mahrez was a natural goalscorer from out wide, although in a different manner to Sterling and the goal that Semenyo scored last night. After Riyad Mahrez left City, they have lacked a consistent goalscorer from out wide besides the 23/24 season when Phil Foden starred. Jeremy Doku, Oscar Bobb, and Savinho aren’t consistent goalscorers with a sense of knowing where to be in the box. Antoine Semenyo is exactly that. He knew where to be to get on the end of Jeremy Doku’s and Bernardo Silva’s flick-on. Semenyo should have had another goal if not for an absurd VAR decision. The Ghana international has added goals to Pep Guardiola’s side, and with Erling Haaland looking fatigued, that is a huge addition to this Manchester City squad.

VAR has it’s moment at St. James Park and the absurdity of it all was striking.

Now, onto the elephant in the room. In the 63rd minute, it seemed that Antoine Semenyo had doubled Manchester City’s lead. Semenyo beat a stranded Nick Pope in the Newcastle goal when he flicked on Tijjani Reijnders’ corner. It was a great corner and a poacher’s finish from Semenyo. That was until VAR intervened. After a six-minute delay, Semenyo’s goal was eventually ruled out. Erling Haaland was adjudged by VAR to have impeded Malick Thiaw from an offside position, and the goal was disallowed. The time VAR took to make the decision was absurd, especially for a decision that wasn’t a howler. It was a borderline call at best, and by the time it was done, VAR had become the howler. That is ironic, considering what VAR was brought in for in the first place.

My question is: What is VAR doing? Technically, the decision may be correct, but is that the purpose of VAR? Is it made to overturn subjective decisions in such a manner? No, it isn’t. It is now spending far too long disallowing goals. The fact that VAR can deliberate on the decision that ruled out Semenyo’s goal for six minutes, but takes less time, for example, to not send Crystal Palace keeper Dean Henderson off in last season’s FA Cup final for clearly handling the ball outside his area, or not award City a penalty for a blatant foul on Phil Foden in Manchester City’s 2-1 defeat at St. James Park earlier this season.

I don’t buy into conspiracy theories. Every fan of every other club will have a catalogue of VAR decisions that didn’t go their way. That is the problem. It isn’t doing the job it was intended for, too much is missed and there is no consistency with VAR at all. Those are my thoughts on last night’s debacle. Pep Guardiola shared his thoughts on the matter after his team’s fantastic win last night, and he summed it up better than I can. The clip of Pep Guardiola speaking on VAR can be seen below.