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Eddie Howe adores motivational slogans and the Newcastle manager’s current favourite is: “One Brain.” The idea is to inspire his team to play with the sort of synchronicity that stems from a collective mindset and unity of purpose.
For a while here it seemed to be working a treat with Newcastle’s intelligence – joint and individual – threatening to further humiliate Qarabag. But then, with a last-16 tie against either Barcelona or Chelsea assured, home concentration began, understandably, wandering a little. Commendably, the Azerbaijani title holders capitalised by fighting back; Gurban Gurbanov’s side, and, in particular, their Colombian forward Camilo Durán, showing they can play a bit too.
If the concession of nine goals over two legs is never ideal, a slick-passing, increasingly entertaining Qarabag at least exited the Champions League on something of a minor high.
“They stabilised and made it difficult for us,” Howe said. “There’s a lot we can improve on but this is an amazing competition and the most important thing is that we’re in the last 16.”
After his side’s chastening 6-1 first leg defeat in Baku last week, Gurbanov had instructed his players to “be more careful and more responsible” on this truly fleeting visit to north-east England. Qarabag did not arrive on Tyneside until 11pm on Monday night and were due to board a six-hour flight straight back to Azerbaijan after the final whistle here. Throw in the four-hour time difference and it seemed a particularly exhausting schedule hardly conducive to making any sort of comeback.
Gurbanov merely sought a spot of pride restoration but the sight of his defender Kevin Medina kneeling on the turf and praying immediately before kick-off did not entirely inspire confidence. Sure enough Qarabag’s five-man rearguard fell apart in the fourth minute when Sandro Tonali applied the final touch to an attacking move he had initiated.
Two minutes later Gurbanov was staring, fixedly, at the ground as Joelinton met a cross from the impressive Harvey Barnes on the volley and watched the ball fly beyond the helpless Mateusz Kochalski.
Howe does not rank among football’s more enthusiastic rotators but, given that healthy first-leg lead, Newcastle’s manager felt sufficiently confident to make seven changes from last Saturday’s 2-1 defeat at Manchester City. The 21-year-old Irish defender, Alex Murphy, was offered a first start at left-back while Newcastle’s leading Champions League scorer, Anthony Gordon, initially warmed the bench. Murphy had a good game and perhaps deserves a Premier League chance.
There was, though, a starting place for Nick Woltemade in a fluid attacking midfield role behind the ineffective William Osula. There is quite a debate as to whether the £69m Germany striker is best deployed as a No 8, 9, or 10,
Here Woltemade offered a flexible interpretation of the No 10 brief with some of his clever link play initially confusing Qarabag to the point where they must have briefly wondered if Uefa might offer them special dispensation to depart for the airport at half time. Yet as much as Gurbanov’s players looked nervous of Joelinton – later disgruntled to be withdrawn at a moment when he was in peril of collecting a second booking – and rarely managed to second guess Tonali, they refused to fold.
Instead, to their immense credit, they improved considerably as the first half wore on with Aaron Ramsdale forced to stretch out a leg and make a smart save to deny Elvin Jafarguliyev.
Admittedly Jacob Murphy missed an inviting chance after being deftly cued up by Woltemade but the visitors were not about to surrender and after a counterattack Ramsdale needed to make a flying save to keep out a shot from the dangerous Durán. The 24-year-old’s name will doubtless have been noted by any watching Premier League scouts.
By way of emphasising his potential Durán reduced the deficit at the outset of the second half after proving far too swift for Dan Burn and beating Ramsdale with a superlative shot.
Any visiting hopes of a draw on the night receded and then revived as first Sven Botman headed Kieran Trippier’s corner home and then Jafarguliyev scored from the rebound after Ramsdale had performed wonders to parry Marko Jankovic’s penalty awarded after Burn’s handball.
“At 2-0 we probably came off the pedal,” said Howe. “In the second half the game became end to end and we expended too much energy without threatening their goal. We’re disappointed with that but, over two legs, it was a professional job.”
