Howe: EFL Cup win helped Newcastle grow
Newcastle United ended their 70-year trophy drought when they won the EFL Cup last season, a defining moment for Eddie Howe’s squad.
Eddie Howe says Newcastle United’s EFL Cup triumph last season helped them grow as a team, as they look to continue their title defence against Tottenham on Wednesday.
The Magpies ended a 70-year trophy drought when they beat Liverpool 2-1 in the final at Wembley in March, with Dan Burn and Alexander Isak scoring the goals.
Newcastle have enjoyed several deep runs in the competition under Eddie Howe, also reaching the showpiece in 2023 (a 2-0 loss to Manchester United) and the quarter-finals in 2023-24 (a penalty shoot-out defeat to Chelsea).
Howe was glad his side were finally able to lift the trophy last season, especially due to their difficult run to the final.
“There's been a lot of great experiences in this competition for us,” said Howe.
“The [first] final was an amazing thing. I still remember vivid memories from that day before the game and obviously the emotions after the game were mainly negative.
“I felt we left a little bit on the pitch that day. The Chelsea defeat is still painful for me because I felt we had a real chance to win.
“We put it right and did really well last year. We had a lot of challenging games. If you look at our fixture list to get to [the final], we had to beat Chelsea, Arsenal.
“A lot of great experiences for us which I think have helped us as a team, helped us grow.”
This will be the first EFL Cup tie between Tottenham and Newcastle since the 2014-15 quarter-final, a game won 4-0 by Spurs at White Hart Lane with four different scorers (Nabil Bentaleb, Nasser Chadli, Harry Kane, Roberto Soldado).
However, Newcastle have won each of their last seven EFL Cup matches, with Liverpool in 1995 the last side to win eight or more (11); but the holders of the cup have exited the competition in round four in three of the last four seasons.
The Magpies will still be without the sidelined Tino Livramento, Lewis Hall and Yoane Wissa, but the latter is set to be out for longer than the two defenders.
“It's difficult for me to give a [specific] game. Yoane is in a different boat to the other two because he is coming back fitness-wise, he has been out longer,” added Howe.
“Lewis' return will be quite quick, in terms of once he is fit and available, he will be back involved in the group.
“Same as Tino [Livramento], Yoane is on track but we need to make sure he has gone through a mini pre-season with us as well.”
