Even afterwards, Wolves seemed perplexed by what had been done to them, manager Gary O’Neil even denying that Newcastle had let them have the ball. “There is no way Newcastle let us have the ball,” he said. “I know Eddie Howe, his teams press high and want to attack, especially at home. They didn’t have the ball because we were so good with it. Our structure was better than theirs…”
That was a very strange thing to say after a 3-0 defeat but O’Neil was probably trying to defend his players rather than himself. Other than a 10-minute spell in the second half when Newcastle tired before they brought on their substitutes, Wolves rarely hurt Newcastle. Martin Dubravka made a couple of good saves in that period, the best of them from Pablo Sarabia.
But Newcastle were far more incisive and clinical. The all-important first goal came when Fabian Schar intercepted a pass inside his own area, immediately threading a pass into the feet of Anthony Gordon. There are not many players as quick as Gordon in the Premier League and he galloped from one end of the pitch to the other, before releasing Bruno Guimaraes at the perfect time. The Brazil international’s shot deflected off a sliding Craig Dawson straight into the path of Alexander Isak to head home.