Newcastle United Carabao Cup final media day: Dominic Scurr reaction

Shields Gazette

Dominic Scurr reacts after Newcastle United's pre Carabao Cup final media day with Eddie Howe, Bruno Guimaraes and Alexander Isak.

Transcript

00:00Good morning everyone, just walking out the Newcastle United Media Centre, there you go,

00:07where we've been speaking to Newcastle head coach Eddie Howe, captain Bruno Gimaraes and

00:13star striker Alexander Isak this morning ahead of Sunday's huge Carabao Cup final against

00:20Liverpool at Wembley Stadium, second final in three seasons for Newcastle and a lot of

00:26the narrative around the press conference today was almost like how have things changed

00:31from last time and Eddie Howe says look it's felt different, it's been almost muted compared

00:37to last time, Newcastle have just taken things in their stride, it hasn't been a huge celebration

00:44or uproar of emotion as it was almost at every stage of the competition particularly in the

00:50latter stages when Newcastle beat Leicester in the quarter final, again Southampton in

00:56the semi-final this time, the celebrations only really came and even then they were somewhat

01:01subdued once Newcastle actually made it to Wembley and beat Arsenal 4-0 over two legs,

01:08very windy here at Newcastle Media Centre so I'll try and get some shelter but yeah

01:14Eddie Howe keen to stress the message is different now, there's no point looking back on past

01:19failures or 70 years of hurt in terms of a weight for a domestic honour, it's one game,

01:26Newcastle's chance to make history on Sunday at Wembley Stadium and they'll be up against

01:33a very tough opponent in Liverpool but the belief is there, that's the sense I got from

01:40Eddie Howe and certainly from the likes of Bruno and Alexander Isak, Alexander Isak says

01:45he likes playing against Liverpool, that was a question asked of him, he obviously scored

01:49on his debut against Liverpool at Anfield, scored at Anfield last season and scored a

01:54absolute record at St James' Park back in December so he's a team I like coming up against,

01:59the good games, I think these games work well for me in the way that Liverpool can be countered

02:07upon and that's a big part of Alexander Isak's game, finishing off those counter-attack moves

02:12so there's definite areas for Newcastle to exploit for Liverpool, they weren't able to

02:19do that at Anfield a couple of weeks ago but of course didn't have Alexander Isak a couple

02:23of weeks ago so yeah, Isak obviously asked about his contract, his fitness, he said he's

02:28fine, he said the sort of injury narrative around him was probably over-dramatic, or

02:34dramatic as he put it, in terms of a contract, didn't really address it, he just sort of

02:39said he believes he joined Newcastle to achieve his ambitions and look, heading into Sunday

02:48they've got a chance of earning a title, so that's how he put it, so that's him fulfilling

02:57his ambitions somewhat in Newcastle, competing with the best teams, winning trophies and

03:02looking ahead to Sunday they've got a chance to do that, so that was the message from Alexander

03:06Isak, in terms of a new contract, he said that's something he'll look at in the summer

03:11so yeah, he wasn't completely dismissive of it but didn't really entertain it too much

03:18either, in terms of Bruno, he very much was emotional about the Cowboy Cup final and what

03:27it would mean, he's not lost on him, he's described himself as a Newcastle fan, he said

03:33he dreams all the time about being that man to lift the trophy, walking up those steps

03:39at Wembley and hopes he can be the man to do it and he's confident, that's what I was

03:46getting from him, he described Alexander Isak as the best striker in the world, he said

03:50the team are in a better place compared to what they were two years ago and yeah, the

03:56progress is there to see, although on the pitch at times this season it's been a bit

04:01hot and cold but Newcastle at the best can beat the best teams in the world and he described

04:06Liverpool as the best team in the world so yeah, that was an interesting sort of dynamic

04:13with Bruno and Alexander Isak on the stage after speaking to Eddie Howe as well and Eddie

04:18Howe in terms of injuries didn't really give anything away, he didn't have too much to

04:24say really, he said no fresh injuries after West Ham and that's remained to be the case

04:30speaking to him today, Lewis Hall and Sven Botman have undergone surgery that will keep

04:35Lewis Hall out for about four months and Sven Botman out for about eight weeks so they're

04:40out of the final, Jamal Lascelles out of the final, Anthony Gordon obviously suspended

04:44as well so yeah, in terms of actual clear what's the big line from the press conference

04:54or speaking to Bruno and Alexander Isak this morning, nothing hugely stands out other than

05:00the just overriding feeling around heading into a game of such magnitude for Newcastle,

05:06how Newcastle are as a club, what they're standing is, how they've attracted big players

05:14like Bruno and Alexander Isak to the club and why winning a trophy would be so important

05:19in the history because it would change everything for Newcastle United, it's been a lifetime,

05:24a literal lifetime without success for the club and a trophy, no one really, unless you

05:30were alive in 1955, 1968, no one really knows how it feels to lift that trophy and for Bruno

05:42to be the man to do that, that certainly wasn't lost on him, Eddie Howe again wasn't lost

05:48on him but again I think Eddie Howe was keen to stress that you can focus on the past a

05:54bit too much, it's just about the here and now, focusing on the present, what Newcastle

05:58need to do to beat Liverpool, don't use the past failures as a sort of burden for Newcastle,

06:05you can use it from two years ago as a motivation, don't have that feeling again but don't dwell

06:11on the 2-0 defeat against Manchester United too much, Eddie Howe said they haven't looked

06:16back on it, there hasn't been those reminders of we haven't won a domestic trophy in 70

06:21years, everyone already knows that, everyone knows what it was like, all the players who

06:26played in the game know what it was like to lose the Carabao Cup final two years ago so

06:31it's not a thing Eddie Howe has been keen to focus on, he's been keen to focus on the

06:36game itself, beating Liverpool and how Newcastle do that. I think Alexander Isak summed it

06:42up quite well in terms of, look he's the man, he's going to start the game, unless

06:49barring any dramatic late injury blow, fingers crossed that's not the case, but he's going

06:53to start the game and he said look, playing Liverpool lends itself well to me, catch them

06:59on the break, counter them quickly, players like Bruno getting close to him from midfield,

07:04passing him the ball is going to be key and he believes he can be the man to end that,

07:10not the trophy drought as such, just the Wembley goal drought, Bruno made a reference

07:15to the last Wembley goal scored by Rob Lay, obviously at the Old Wembley and he said,

07:21got a bit of a laugh because he said he was hoping for some good luck from Rob Lay's boots

07:27but anyone who remembers Rob Lay's goal will know he scored with his head so that got a

07:33bit of a laugh from the media in the room at the time, so yeah Bruno was corrected there

07:40but all in all we'll look ahead to a huge game at Wembley Stadium on Sunday and we'll

07:48be there every step of the way, you can catch all the fallout from Newcastle United's press

07:52conference this morning over on theshieldsgazette.com, you can also follow myself at Don Skirt on

07:59X for all of the build up to Wembley, we'll be heading down to London tomorrow for all

08:05the build up, all the fanfare around Covent Garden, things like that and then Wembley

08:10for the big one on Sunday and hopefully history will change, you never know, you never know,

08:15Newcastle underdogs once again as they often are heading into finals but certainly speaking

08:21to Bruno, Isaac and Eddie Howe this morning, the feeling was confidence is high and history

08:27can be made, so will history be made? You can find out, you'll all know but you can

08:33follow the Shields Gazette, everything I have to write from Eddie Howe's press conference,

08:39everything from my colleague Joe Buck as well previewing the game, he'll be at the important

08:44fan zones as well down in London and hopefully it's a good weekend, so be sure to check out

08:52the Shields Gazette, follow myself Don Skirt and hopefully it's a weekend to remember.

08:58Cheers.

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