Newcastle United beat Bradford City 4-1 in the Carabao Cup third-round on Wednesday night.
It marked the start of the defence of the trophy Newcastle United won back in March by beating Liverpool in the final at Wembley.
Eddie Howe’s side avoided a Carabao Cup upset and ended up turning on the style at St James’ Park.
Indeed, Newcastle’s 4-1 win over Bradford will hopefully lift their confidence in attack, with goals proving to be a problem so far this season in the Premier League and the Champions League.
It was a positive night on Tyneside, but it seems the away fans were not overly impressed.
Bradford City fans mock Newcastle United supporters at St James’ Park
According to The Guardian, the away supporters could be heard making reference to a supposed lack of atmosphere inside St James’.
The travelling support could be heard singing: “Where’s your famous atmosphere?”
While that feels harsh given the sheer amount of supporters who showed up to cheer on their team during a very busy schedule, it’s not only natural that the stadium perhaps wouldn’t have been as loud as it was against Barcelona little under a week before.
With all due respect to Bradford, it’s just obviously not as big an occasion as that.
Graham Alexander issues classy Newcastle United message
The Bradford manager admitted he didn’t like Howe during his playing days, with the Toon boss previously in charge of Graham Alexander while at Burnley.
However, the Bantams chief sent a classy message about Newcastle after watching his side exit the Carabao Cup.
“You saw the starting team they put out tonight and we were like ‘OK, they’re taking it really serious’”, he said (via Newcastle World).
“But I think that’s great credit for our players to go up against these players, and even the players that we brought on as top internationals, multi-million-pound players.
“And even generally the staff around the club, I think they really welcomed us as an opportunity to the stadium. So I think it’s been a really positive night for us apart from the result. That’s always going to sting, because we’re professionals and we want to win games.”
To Bradford’s credit, they did cause the hosts problems. Until the quick-fire strikes from Joelinton and William Osula in the first half, they looked a threat on the break.
Andy Cook’s brilliant goal for Bradford against Newcastle will also live long in the memory, given he is a boyhood supporter of the Magpies.
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