Honestly. It is the Geordie nightmare from hell. Cruel maybe but the brutal reality is that it was all self-inflicted.
Think about it: first the meanest defence in the Premier League was as wide open as a barn door to make it easy for Liverpool to establish a two-goal lead in the first quarter of an hour and guarantee sending us to Wembley on the back of a horror home defeat.
Kieran Trippier, big-hearted skipper and one of United's blue-chip players, was culpable on both goals which continued the worrying trend of previously ultra-reliable performers suddenly dropping standards.
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Then to catapult the farce off the Richter scale another 'reliable' Nick Pope rushed out of goal like a bull chasing a red rag not for the first time but the second. On this occasion he got his hoped-for clearance in no man's land hopelessly wrong, fell, and in panic pulled the ball into his chest like . . . a keeper in his penalty area.
An inevitable red card means Pope misses the League Cup final and thereby exposed the folly of an impulsive gamble that backfired. Having first let Martin Dubravka go out on loan to Manchester United where he lay idle apart from playing in the Carabao Cup thus becoming cup-tied and useless at Wembley, Newcastle compounded their keeper crisis by allowing Karl Darlow to go to Hull on loan where he has done nothing but sit on the subs' bench.
Would it not have been better having brought Dubravka back before his time was up that he was the one to let go again because United were still in the League Cup? Or at least keep Darlow until the end of the season too? Belt and braces maybe but surely sound thinking.
Darlow has done himself out of a cup final appearance for what? Not even Championship football.
Now a huge penalty is to be paid when Manchester United and Marcus Rashford come gunning for Newcastle in the national stadium on Sunday. United will travel for their first cup final in 24 years with Loris Karius and Mark Gillespie sharing the glove duties neither having played a single second in the PL for the club. They could have been the two to go in January. They will almost inevitably go in the summer.
To add a curious twist to farce both Dubravka and Darlow qualify for Carabao Cup medals should the clubs wish to oblige because they played for Man U and NUFC in previous rounds yet come the day neither is allowed to be anywhere near the pitch!
Long before the Liverpool debacle fans had voiced their concern over United unloading both Jonjo Shelvey and Chris Wood without bringing in replacements. Threadbare is not the word for it. It is totally acceptable that Shelvey, Wood, Darlow, and for that matter Dubravka were considered expendable as United grow and develop - but not without adequate numbers to keep the show afloat.
No Geordie, no believer who has kept the faith through thin and thinner, could have expected their side to implode so disastrously in the final game before the final. If there is a plus to be taken from all this it is that playing 70 minutes with 10 men, two goals down, and a cover keeper between the sticks, United kept their attitude high and battled on without suffering further mishap.
Oh, and one other plus. The fans were truly magnificent singing songs of loyalty and devotion throughout but then no one has ever doubted them. They will without doubt win the battle on the terraces at Wembley. Whether the team on the field do likewise is now open to debate.
Perhaps there was another small glimmer. I thought Allan Saint-Maximin was his old self full of powerful running, ball retention, and enthusiasm just in time for Wembley. A mood player, he looked up for it here. If only we had not brought woes tumbling upon our heads Maxi may have been the difference against a Liverpool defence which in victory still looked anything but secure. That was what I found infuriating - on another day and an even playing field the Reds could have been taken.
United have been truly magnificent this season. They really have. However if praise has been fulsome and thoroughly deserved then it must be accepted that the first 20 minutes against Liverpool was so suicidal that it has impacted hugely on both Champions League qualification and Wembley.
It is all so sad, so awful, that we must all pray for a miracle on the Big Day because they can happen. We must not meekly accept that 74, 76, 98, and 99 is to be repeated as a matter of course. This is a time for heroes just as Saturday night became a time of villains. Is their anyone willing to step up to the plate and save Geordie dreams?
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