LONDON, UK – January 8 (ONLINE) Fighting on three fronts proved a step too far for Newcastle United as they were dumped out of the Emirates FA Cup by League One Sheffield Wednesday.
Prior to the Hillsborough cup upset, head coach Eddie Howe claimed he believed he had the strength of squad, without injuries, to ensure he kept fires burning in not only the Premier League, but also the two cup competitions.
However, calling on his reserves only proved the point that Newcastle do not have the strength in depth to maintain a charge across the board in English football.
“Bitterly disappointed to go out, I thought the performance was OK. We created enough chances to win the tie and their goalkeeper made a number of great saves but we weren’t clinical enough when those presentable opportunities were there,” said Howe.
“We have to accept the defeat and Sheffield Wednesday battled for everything, as we did, but it wasn’t to be.”
“We have a very small squad and have to protect that squad for games ahead. We felt we were strong enough to win the game today and I stick by that based on the first-half performance where we had chances to score, we just weren’t clinical in front of goal.
“We haven’t experienced defeat a lot this season and it’s very painful, you don’t want to lose any game.
“We were determined to do well in this competition but it wasn’t to be and there’s always things to learn. We created chances tonight similar to the Leeds game that we didn’t win where we will kick ourselves when we look back at some of those moments and think how we didn’t score.”
The result now brings into sharp focus Tuesday’s return to action, where Howe will almost certainly call on the likes of Callum Wilson and Nick Pope to give the Magpies the best possible chance of progressing to the Carabao Cup semifinal. Leicester City stand in the way of their first League Cup last-four spot since 1976.
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