Manchester City 2 Newcastle 1 – Saturday February 21, 2026 8:00 PM
Direct fan/writer response from some of our regular contributors to The Mag.
Nat Seaton:
‘A great effort from the boys, but not enough to beat an in-form team in the Premier League, full of million-dollar players going for the title.
Too bad about the Burn goal/push, but that doesn’t mean we got anything out of the match.
Things continued to go well in the second half, but with all the players we have it’s a big ask.
Back to the Champions League on Tuesday, where the opposition won’t quite be at this level…’
Billy Miller:
‘It was probably too much to ask to extend our winning run at the Etihad.
One of our better displays there.
One day we will triumph in that stadium.”
Mark Jankowski:
‘Newcastle once again left the Etihad empty-handed, despite putting in the best performance at that stadium in the best part of a decade.
We were undone by a few moments of sloppy defending in the first half and possibly poor goalkeeping on Man City’s first goal.
Despite falling behind, we fought back to level terms in the match and were unlucky to see a second equalizer ruled out after a blatant push from Ruben Dias. It would have been the softest foul the referee could have given, but after disallowing the goal through the use of VAR, they certainly had to intervene as the only reason we didn’t score was due to that soft foul.
If Newcastle can play this well for the rest of the season, we should end up much further down the table than we are now.
Let’s keep our fingers crossed that we can stay healthy until May.’
Matt Busby said…:
‘I’m tired of losing at Emptihad.
Thought in shreds we more than competed.
When will we get the scoop on the Commonwealth Games Stadium?
It doesn’t matter, we can turn this fate around in the fifth round of the FA Cup.’
David Punton:
‘Defeat but a better effort. That’s something, right?
Maybe we should have had a draw, but they are going for the league title.
Really hard place to go.
You have to be seriously good to topple Manchester City.”
Simon Ritter:
“We gave as good as we got.
Unfortunately, the best we could muster wasn’t as good as Manchester City’s.
Newcastle’s pace in midfield and attack worried the hosts.
Had it not been for a push against Dan Burn to put him offside from a Tonali free-kick, we would have been level at half-time.
I expect a friendly thank you note from Arteta after we made our chosen champions work hard for the points.
Bernardo Silva was fortunate to avoid a second yellow card in three minutes as we attacked again at the start of the second half. A brave referee would have sent him off.
Instead, he hit a home run, ignored wasted time and secured a win for Man City.”
Davey hat trick:
‘One of those brave away games that we lose, which I hate, and in which Newcastle have practiced well.
Throughout the 90 minutes we matched Man City – or better – and with more composure in the final third we might have been able to get something out of the game.
The way Man City’s players, staff and crowd celebrated the final whistle tells you everything you need to know about how close we brought them. After our midweek efforts it was a little more than I expected.
But it’s still zero points and it’s still depressing.
I do know one thing: Man City will not enjoy the FA Cup match with us.’
The armchair fan:
‘I played very well and deserved at least a point.
What are the rules when someone is pushed offside?!
There is nothing to be afraid of in the upcoming FA Cup match, I felt we could win it.”
Manchester City 2 Newcastle 1 – Saturday February 21, 2026 8:00 PM
Match statistics
Goals:
Newcastle United:
Hall 22
Man’s City:
O’Reilly 14, 27
Possess was Newcastle 45% Manchester City 55%
Total shots were Newcastle 13 Man City 15
Shots on target were Newcastle 7 Man City 7
Corners were Newcastle 5 Man City 5
Touches in the opposition box Newcastle 18 Man City 28
Newcastle team vs Man City:
Pope, Trippier, Thiaw, Burn, Hall, Tonali, Ramsey, Willock (Barnes 60), Elanga (Jacob Murphy 78), Gordon (Osula 78), Woltemade (Joelinton 60)
subtitles:
Ruddy, Ramsdale, Alex Murphy, Shahar, Neave
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