‘What a story’ - Every word Eddie Howe said after Newcastle United’s 3-0 at Man United

Newcastle United don’t tend to get results at Old Trafford but against all the odds, they did tonight to advance into the quarter finals of the Carabao Cup.

An eight-man absentee list forced the same number of changes against Manchester United, not that that mattered as the Magpie surged a 3-0 victory.

Goals from Miguel Almiron and Lewis Hall put Newcastle in the first half before Joe Willock added a third on the hour-mark.

In truth, Eddie Howe’s side cruised to victory. Their reward for dumping both Manchester clubs out of the competition? Chelsea away.

Here’s everything Howe said during his post-match press conference:

‘Massive performance’

“It was a massive performance from the players. I can’t credit them enough. Some great stories to come out the game from our perspective. The only negative was Matt Targett, that was a huge blow for us early in the game.

“Even more credit to the players for the response after that moment and some giant performances from the players.”

‘What a story’ for Emil Krafth

“What a story really for both of them. Emil, 14 months out playing in a position that he hasn’t played a lot in - he was superb tonight. He used the ball really well, I thought his athleticism was key, looked comfortable.

Together with Paul [Dummett] I thought they defended really well against top quality players as well. It wasn’t an easy game for us.”

Tino Livramento & Lewis Hall star

“I thought they both played really, really well. They both showed their qualities.

“Lewis was composed on the ball under pressure and played some lovely passes in the first half, capped off with his goal that was an unbelievable strike.

“Tino’s standout was the assist for the goal but his all-round performance again was of the highest level. They’re two outstanding prospects for us.

“They were signed to push the group and help our squad. To help our team you need good players and they are both very good players.

“The form of Kieran [Trippier] and Dan [Burn] has been really strong as well so it’s that competition that will bring out the best in everybody but they’re very important players for the here and now.”

Joelinton back to his best?

“Yeah, possibly. He’s had a period of time out, he’s just finding his best rhythm again. He’s such an important player for us. He was due to start wide but with Matt’s injury came inside and he performed really well.”

And what about Joe Willock?

“I thought Joe was outstanding today. He’s a goalscoring midfielder, he’s got those athletic qualities that we need. You could see how many times he ran forward today. He’s a real threat, took his goal brilliant which was a big moment in the match. Delighted with Joe.

A big moment to share with the 7,000 travelling fans?

“It means everything to us and hopefully it means everything to them. You could see the reaction at the end how big it was and the connection between us and the supporters. They knew today we were in a tough moment.

“We were making changes to the team because of a lot of injuries and that can sometimes elevate your unity. If we didn’t have that aspect to our game today we would have found it very difficult.

“Players like Matt Ritchie highligh that unity, his performance today was of the highest level.”

What was your message at half-time?

“The message at half-time was to positive and brave and continue to do the things that brought success in the first half. I’ve seen many times here when the Manchester United crowd win them the game later in the match but we were determined to still be positive and played our normal game.”

Eight changes...

“We debated it for a couple of days but we kept reverting back to the same end point which means it was pretty clear what we needed to do, we needed to try and rest players. But also we needed to not have our players not do anything for a week either - almost shutting a player down for a week isn’t a good idea and we’ve then got to elevate their physical level again on Saturday so it was a mix.

“We wanted to give some players some minutes but shortened minutes. Some of the subs were pre-set before the game. Anthony Gordon, Joe Willock - we needed to get them off the pitch. It’s going to be a key thing for us managing minutes and keep the squad as strong as possible

Determined to go one further in Carabao Cup?

“We’re determined to try and do well in every game and I think internally that’s how we’re looking at it. We’ve prepared as well as we could for today and we picked the team we felt could win.

“Now we’ll try and do the same for Arsenal and it’s doing that on a consistent basis.”