Manchester City progressed to the final of the 2026 Carabao Cup after beating Newcastle United at the Etihad Stadium.
Omar Marmoush’s brace and a goal from Tijjani Reijnders helped City cruise to an emphatic aggregate victory, with Anthony Elanga pulling a goal back for Eddie Howe’s side in yet another under par second half from the Blues.
City will face Premier League leaders Arsenal in the final on March 22nd, but before then will face crucial fixtures in the league, FA Cup and UEFA Champions League as they continue to compete on all fronts.
Here are three things we learned as City progressed to the final of the Carabao Cup:
Reijnders will succeed at City
Ever since his fantastic debut against Wolves in August, Reijnders has struggled to replicate the performance and hasn’t lived up to expectations.
He has put in steady performances with the odd glimpse of quality, but the performance against Newcastle was the first real sign that he’s making progress.
City’s number four had a big hand in all three goals, scoring the third one himself. That takes his tally up to seven for the season in all competitions, which would put him as Arsenal’s top scorer.
Many expected him to be a tempo dictator like Ilkay Gundogan or David Silva, but really he’s like Yaya Toure. He can play deeper if needed, but is much better almost as a ten, with space to drive into and runners ahead of him.
Before last season, it was established that players needed a season of transition to adjust to the demands City and Guardiola provide.
Bernardo Silva, Riyad Mahrez, Joao Cancelo, Jack Grealish, Raheem Sterling and Leroy Sane have all had better second seasons at City, whilst for some – namely Jeremy Doku and Matheus Nunes – it takes until their third season before we see the best of them.
Reijnders has shown more than enough in his opening half season at City that he will succeed. Now he needs to carry some form into the final months of the campaign and help City to win silverware again.
The second half slump is a real issue
But they won’t win a thing if they keep on dropping off so significantly in the second half of games.
It’s now been against Newcastle, Tottenham Hotspur, Wolves, Galatasaray, Manchester United, Chelsea and Brighton and Hove Albion in 2026 alone that City have looked much worse in the second half than the first. Against Spurs, United, Brighton and Chelsea, it cost them points.
Intensity levels seem to drop, the opposition gain confidence and begin to play through the City midfield and defence as if its not there. The Blues were 3-0 at half time, and it could easily have been 3-3 before things changed.
Rodri, Rayan Cherki and Erling Haaland came on and all contributed in their own way. Rodri’s Rodri – he was showing for the ball constantly and got things ticking again in the centre whilst Cherki showed some amazing trickery and good decision making to slow things down in City’s favour.
Even Haaland looked positive off the bench and caused Newcastle’s defence a problem. He pinned the backline and proved to be an effective outlet, and could’ve walked away with two goals if it weren’t for two great saves from Aaron Ramsdale for the away side.
But City won’t always have that quality on the bench, and must improve or they’ll be picked apart by the strongest teams in the league.
Trafford has developed as a goalkeeper already in his time at City
It’s a shame that he’s likely to leave in the summer, because there’s not much more you could ask for from a backup goalkeeper than James Trafford.
City’s number one made several fantastic saves throughout both legs, and will rightfully start the final and any game in the FA Cup between now and the end of the season.
He seems to make better decisions than in his first few months at City when it comes to leaving his line to clear the ball and in passing out from the back.
If City didn’t have the best goalkeeper in the league in Gianluigi Donnarumma as number one, he’d be more than good enough to be the regular starter going forward from next season as was initially the plan.
As it is though, he’ll likely move to a team further down the table where he’s likely the number one goalkeeper, and he’ll deserve the minutes as he seeks to become England’s long term Jordan Pickford replacement.