Marco Silva watched on as his Fulham side were knocked out of the Carabao Cup.
Eddie Howe and Newcastle United progressing to a semi-final in the competition for a third time in four seasons.
The Fulham boss gutted with what happened at St James’ Park, Marco Silva declaring; “A difficult one to take.”
Less than two months ago, Newcastle won 2-1 in the Premier League against Fulham at SJP. An early first half NUFC goal (by Murphy) cancelled out by a Lukic equaliser, only for Bruno to get the winner.
This time an early lead via Yoane Wissa, Lukic equalising, then a 92nd minute winner thanks to Lewis Miley’s quality header from Tonali’s corner.
Marco Silva not happy at all that history had repeated itself so quickly; “Another one, one and a half months [later], to come here and to lose again in the way we lost, in the last moments of the game, was very difficult for us, in a competition where we wanted to be playing in the semi-finals next month.”
To be honest, Marco Silva can’t have any complaints about either of these 2-1 defeats at St James’ Park, Newcastle United deserving both wins, even if they were via late goals. It was United pushing for the winner each time.
Marco Silva thought that for Fulham it was; “Better first half, performance wise, for us than the second. We matched clearly the game first half, some moments Newcastle were more dominant, other moments with ourselves much more in control of the ball. Newcastle had one or two good moments as well first half, but I believe that first half, we played in a way that we wanted to play.”
Even though Newcastle took the lead, it was Fulham who had started well, when they equalised only six minutes after Wissa’s tenth minute opener, you couldn’t really complain.
However, I think that the respective starts of the two teams were a lot to do with Eddie Howe making six of ten outfield changes, some forced, some not.
With some players who hadn’t made many starts, others like Miley asked to play in a different position (right-back). For me, by about halfway through the first half, Newcastle had become the more dominant side and the stats (see below) back that up.
Newcastle were no where near their best but did ok and Fulham were timewasting from very early on, something hat just got worse and worse as match progressed. The useless referee doing next to nothing to deal with it and that on top of a series of decisions going against the home side, led to much frustration amongst both Newcastle fans and players.
Marco Silva at least admitting that Newcastle were the more dominant team after the break; “The second half was more difficult, it was more difficult to set our game, we also defended too deep in some moments. But apart from the save before the corner [that Lewis Miley scored from] and one or two crosses, they didn’t have many chances. That is the thing, they didn’t create. Newcastle much more in control, much more playing in our last third, but not with the chances.”
With Fulham defending so deep and in large numbers, it was tough for Newcastle to break them down, though Bruno Guimaraes outstanding as he tried to lift United into the last four of the competition.
Marco Silva conceding that Newcastle United had made it very difficult for Fulham to get into the final third for much of the game and apart from the goal, the visitors only had two other efforts on target; “We were not able to set the game, to play and to create our offensive organisation the way that we like to play. Our counter attacks, our fast attacks, they didn’t work really…”
With Newcastle in the ascendancy it only encouraged Fulham to waste time even more, as they tried to cling on for penalties. Marco Silva seeing it this way; “We had one or two good moments but not great chances second half really, not very dangerous moments.”
The Fulham manager though still gutted at how Newcastle United won the match; “Even so, the way we lost the game from a set-piece in the last moments of the game…it is a very, very difficult one to take.”
Eddie Howe and his players simply wanted it more and were pushing more and more for the winner, as the visitors simply tried to get to that penalty shootout.
As well as Newcastle having 61% possession and 16 v 6 on shots, maybe the most telling statistic showing how the match was played out, is that when it came to players touching the ball in the opposition penalty area, it was 36 v 15 in United’s favour.
Eddie Howe and his players deserved this victory, no matter when that winning goal arrived.
Newcastle 2 Fulham 1 – Wednesday 17 December 2025 8.15pm
Match Stats
Goals:
Newcastle United:
Wissa 10, Miley 90+2
Fulham:
Lukic 16
Possession was Newcastle 61% Fulham 39%
Total shots were Newcastle 14 Fulham 6
Shots on target were Newcastle 6 Fulham 3
Corners were Newcastle 5 Fulham 5
Touches in the opposition box Newcastle 36 Fulham 15
Newcastle team v Fulham:
Ramsdale, Livramento (Alex Murphy 76), Thiaw, Schar, Ramsey, Willock (Tonali 72), Miley, Bruno, Jacob Murphy(Elanga 85), Barnes (Gordon 85), Wissa (Woltemade 72)
Unused subs:
Ruddy, Joelinton, Shahar, Neave
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