THE best way to win trophies is to recruit seasoned trophy winners.
And it was five-time Champions League winner Casemiro who headed Manchester United towards their first silverware in six years as Erik ten Hag’s side thwarted Newcastle’s hopes of ending a far longer drought.
That was the difference in this Carabao Cup Final because Newcastle enjoyed the majority of possession and played a decent share of the football.
But Ten Hag’s side were significantly sharper in both penalty areas and, in the space of six first-half minutes, they punctured the bubble of the Toon Army hordes with that Casemiro header and a deflected Marcus Rashford strike, awarded as a Sven Botman own goal.
Newcastle will be back at Wembley before long, Geordie Arabia’s ruthless bankrollers will make certain of that.
But Eddie Howe’s side, now winless in four matches, are beginning to look like what they are – approximately half of the team Howe inherited from Steve Bruce.
A quarter of a billion has already been spent since the Saudi takeover but there are still plenty of improvements to be done.
London had been submerged by an all-weekend Geordie drinking bender but Newcastle’s fans had managed to haul themselves out of the Trafalgar Square fountains to make it to Wembley and create a serious racket.
While Manchester United hadn’t lifted a trophy since the 2017 Europa League Final, their supporters were not treating this with the same sense of occasion.
For keeper Loris Karius – Liverpool’s bungling fall guy in the 2018 Champions League Final – there was a first appearance in two years since a loan spell at Union Berlin, with Nick Pope suspended and Martin Dubravka cup-tied.
The German might have done better on both goals but he avoided anything like his humiliation in Kiev.
Bruno Guimaraes had been suspected for three matches after a red card in the semi-final against Southampton – and Newcastle hadn’t won without their Brazilian playmaker.
For half an hour it was deathly dull, although Newcastle were playing most of the football.
Then Allan Saint Maximin filleted Diogo Dalot and saw his shot blocked by David De Gea at the near post, Guimaraes ballooning a volley from the rebound.
Martinez needed lengthy treatment on a head injury after a clash with Fabian Schar – but as soon as the Argentine was back on his feet, Ten Hag’s men seized the initiative.
Guimaraes fouled Rashford, Luke Shaw delivered the free-kick with some serious lash and Casemiro rose to glance a header past Karius – a VAR check suggesting that the scorer, unlike a couple of team-mates, was marginally onside.
After Weghorst had robbed Guimaraes with an excellent tackle in his own penalty area, the big Dutchman was imposing himself at the opposite end.
The on-loan Burnley man broke into an unlikely gallop towards the Newcastle defence and slipped a pass through for Rashford whose shot deflected off Botman’s shin, which lifted it over a falling Karius and into the far corner.
Two goals in six minutes plunged the black-and-white half of the stadium, so noisy early on, into silence.
Dan Burn ought to have halved the deficit soon after but he steered a header wide from a Kieran Trippier centre.
But Weghorst, suddenly full of it, strode forward again and let rip with a curling shot that Karius did well to push over.
At half-time, Howe sent on Alexander Isak as a second striker, in place of Sean Longstaff, while Ten Hag introduced Aaron Wan-Bissaka for Dalot, who was on a yellow.
Fred duffed a great shooting opportunity but Newcastle were still in with a shout, Saint Maximin always lively on the ball.
Varane and Martinez were always there though – winning headers, blocking shots, relishing every bit of dirty work demanded of them.
Marcel Sabitzer, newly arrived as a sub, won a fierce tackle and fed Rashford who cut inside and forced a decent save from Karius.
Newcastle sub Jacob Murphy fired narrowly wide late on but the result rarely looked in any serious doubt after that swift first-half one-two.
And Fernandes almost made it three in the dying seconds, but Karius stood up well to prevent further misery.
