Man City fans back up Pep Guardiola claim at Newcastle

Manchester City fans enjoyed their night at Newcastle as their team came through as 2-0 winners in the Carabao Cup

From Neil Young to Yaya Toure to Oscar Bobb, Manchester City fans have had some glorious moments to celebrate at St James' Park. Tuesday may not quite live as long in the memory but everyone up in the gods certainly made the most of their night.

Asking where Newcastle's famous atmosphere was early on, always believing in new boy Antoine Semenyo and then enquiring if there was a fire drill when Rayan Cherki's effort went in, City's support was loud and punchy throughout. The home side tried to rally everyone behind them when Semenyo's second was disallowed but the Blues made sure they were heard in the stands just as the team did on the pitch.

St James' can create some special atmospheres and it certainly felt like the City fans were alive to their team. There was never going to be a similar crowd for the FA Cup win over Exeter three days earlier and away crowds are almost always better anyway, but it was still a striking distance.

There was plenty to shout about, mind. Five players over the course of the evening had come through the City academy, and the team that started had a spine of James Trafford, Max Alleyne, Nico O'Reilly and Phil Foden with the latter two also being local lads. The big No.9 is also a boyhood City fan.

Semenyo joins Cherki in being new and exciting while Nathan Ake and Bernardo Silva were old masters making sure that the rest of the team always kept their heads without losing their fight. It was a proper performance, and it was celebrated like one.

The scenes at the end of the game were similar to the win at Nottingham Forest after Christmas, another win that lifted City up and saw players and supporters in unison. Guardiola noted then that a connection that had been lost was restored.

"The body language, how we are with the fans is there. They feel the team wants to do it, want to fight for each other," he said. "The people who adore the club more than we love it. We’ve had that a long time ago."

It has been well documented how the team lost its spark last season after winning everything there was to win, and it is always more difficult for fans to get behind players when they feel like the effort isn't all there. For supporters too though, they really have seen it all in the last few years and with grumbles rumbling regularly around ticket prices and the world generally not getting any better it is hard to keep the motivation.

This year, everyone seems sharper for the dip last season. Guardiola has another team that can be got behind, and the fans are ready to play their part in helping that team try to win trophies again.