Eddie Howe has revealed that Newcastle United targeted William Saliba and Gabriel during their 2-0 victory over Arsenal within the Carabao Cup semi final.
Newcastle already held a 2-0 lead on aggregate from their win in the primary leg of their semi final on the Emirates Stadium last month and went on to book their place at Wembley with the identical victory at St James’ Park on Wednesday night.
Jacob Murphy and Anthony Gordon scored Newcastle’s goals, meanwhile, Alexander Isak delivered one other impressive performance up against Arsenal’s two central defenders.
Howe, whose side will play either Liverpool or Tottenham within the Carabao Cup final at Wembley on March 16, says he was keen to focus on Saliba and Gabriel once more following their struggles in the primary leg and likewise praised Fabian Schar in his efforts to stop Declan Rice breaking through from midfield.
‘The work began on Monday, which is quick. The Champions League last yr helped us to work on those two-day turnarounds. We do tweak things depending on the opposition,’ Howe said.
‘We felt we wanted more height within the team, we wanted solidity on the back and we had to alter in an effort to win the sport.
‘The players followed the instruction to the letter, they deserve the credit. Fabian had big distances to cover in his job, tracking Declan Rice whether he dropped low or went wide or went central. At times he went right across the pitch. He’s an excellent athlete and could be very able to doing it.
‘We desired to get pressure on them [Saliba and Gabriel] and in an effort to try this we needed to get bodies in the appropriate areas and press high – that’s how we decided to do it.
‘You recognize you’re playing against elite players and one mistake could make things difficult. We needed to be ourselves, be front foot. If not then it will probably quickly be 1-0 and 2-0 and then you definitely are on the back foot.
‘We needed to work on set plays as their set play threat is so high. Within the reverse fixture there have been some moments where we got a bit lucky. Again our team selection was based on having height, especially without Joelinton, we wanted Dan Burn, Fabian Schar and Sven Botman. We defended the set plays rather well today.’
Meanwhile, Gordon also revealed that Howe instructed him to change his position in an effort to put more pressure on Arsenal’s two central defenders.
‘Everyone knows we don’t change much. We’re all the time going to press and check out to place teams under pressure,’ Gordon told BBC 5 Live.
‘The gaffer altered it a little bit bit, I played inside a bit more, they usually struggled with it on the counter attack because they’ll couldn’t really pick me and Murph up and Alex [Isak] does what Alex does. I believe the gaffer deserves all of the credit.’
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