Are Newcastle stuttering at just the wrong time? Or could the manner of Saturday's 2-0 defeat against Liverpool end up 'igniting the fires' - just like the reverse fixture at Anfield back in August?
Eddie Howe will certainly take heart from his side's response after going down to 10 men midway through the first half at St James' Park. Nick Pope's red card ended up galvanising the group despite the two-goal deficit and the Magpies ultimately had a host of chances to get back into the game. Allan Saint-Maximin and Dan Burn both hit the crossbar before half-time; Alexander Isak fired over from inside the box on the turn after the break; Fabian Schar headed wide before the hour mark; and substitute Callum Wilson was denied by Alisson late on.
Newcastle's failure to take those opportunities was indicative of a side who have only scored nine goals in their last 11 games in all competitions. That lack of composure in front of goal comes at a time when this team have won just one of their last seven league games and failed to keep a clean sheet in any of their last four matches. These are not exactly ideal numbers before facing in-form Manchester United in the Carabao Cup final on Sunday.
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Yet this spirited fightback against Liverpool should still offer some encouragement as Newcastle bid to end their 54-year trophy drought in what is, of course, a one-off game where anything can happen. As Allan Saint-Maximin put it to Sky Sports: "If we can play with that even with 10 men down, if all the players are on the pitch and give everything, I'm sure we can cause Manchester United a lot of problems." That was the message Howe also drove home to his players after the game.
"We have to look at it positively," Howe told reporters. "Probably it was the ideal opposition for next week."
To think, before 12 minutes of madness, Newcastle started the game like they will hope to against Manchester United at Wembley. Newcastle, pressing high, even forced the usually calm Alisson to boot the ball out of play for a throw-in at one point, and the hosts had the first big chance of the game in the fourth minute when Saint-Maximin rolled Miguel Almiron in only for the Liverpool goalkeeper to make the save.
However, some uncharacteristically poor defending from the most watertight backline in the country saw Newcastle concede two quickfire goals. Newcastle were undone by balls over the top on both occasions - even if Trent Alexander-Arnold and Mo Salah's lofted passes were superb - and the pair had the time and space they needed to tee up Darwin Nunez and Cody Gakpo respectively.
Newcastle truly shot themselves in the foot in the 22nd minute, though, when Kieran Trippier's free-kick was easily claimed and, again, a punt forward caused problems as Alisson launched the ball from his hands. We all know what happened next; Pope handled the ball well outside his area after falling to the ground in an effort to get to it before Salah and was sent off by referee Anthony Taylor.
Pope, as a result, will miss Sunday's final, which means Loris Karius will start his first competitive game in two years because Martin Dubravka is cup-tied and Karl Darlow cannot be recalled from his loan spell at Hull City. Given how Pope has the ability to save the unsaveable, that already feels like a body blow, but the way Newcastle played without their shot-stopper for so long against Liverpool shows his loss does not have to be fatal. It sounds so obvious, and is a big ask against Manchester United, but ensuring Karius has little to do is such an obvious solution as Howe alluded to after the game.
"There have been games where Nick would be the first to admit he has had little to do within the good run that we have had defensively," he told Sky Sports. "There have also been moments where he has stepped up and made world-class saves for us, but we need to make sure we go into next week with the mindset that we protect our goal as we have done all season."
Newcastle will also be boosted by the return of the influential Bruno Guimaraes at Wembley while Joe Willock could also be back if the midfielder shakes off a hamstring injury as expected. The irony is that Pope aside - and that is a big aside - Newcastle will be at full strength and have extra time to prepare for this game. But that won't count for anything if the Magpies do not sharpen up at the back and finally bring their finishing boots.
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