Howe rues missed Newcastle chances as City seixe control of League cup semi final

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00:00I'm going to ask you about Semenyo.

00:30What is your summing up to that game?

00:33It does look like you've left yourself a bit of a mountain to climb in the second game.

00:37Yeah, it does, I think we have.

00:39I thought it was a tough defeat on us tonight,

00:42because I thought the lads really did give everything today

00:45and I thought we had the chances to make that scoreline very different

00:48if we could have got that first goal.

00:50I thought there were chances, there were moments.

00:52I thought we defended pretty well for the majority of the game.

00:55Really disappointed to lose 2-0, I think 1-0.

00:58Obviously a very different feel about it

01:01and we needed to defend better in that last moment of the game.

01:04Were you bitter about the fact that Semenyo is allowed to play

01:09after playing performance in an earlier round,

01:11particularly given what happened to you in 2023?

01:14No, I don't think bitter is the right word.

01:16I think the rules are the rules, they're there.

01:19I don't think I can focus on that too much.

01:23I'd probably like to focus more on the fact we had ten men

01:25when they scored their first goal, because I just don't get that rule.

01:28JJ's gone down with a head injury,

01:31we'll have to get an elbowed in the head and we get punished for that.

01:35I don't see that that's right.

01:37What about the offside goal there?

01:38One catch has gone on quite a long rant,

01:40claiming that they were un-merely treated here and then 2-1 beneath.

01:44What's your view of it?

01:46I've got no view of it really.

01:48I've not seen it again, so I can't give you an opinion.

01:51Did fatigue play a part at the end?

02:00No, I don't think necessarily just at the end.

02:03I think fatigue played a part just generally for us today.

02:06I thought we looked a little bit fatigued,

02:09but that's understandable with the exertions and the efforts

02:12that we gave on Saturday.

02:13It's such a quick turnaround against the worst team that you can play

02:16to expose any fatigue because they keep the ball so well.

02:19That's why we have to compliment the lads,

02:21because I thought they did give everything.

02:22We tried our best to rouse ourselves to the levels that we wanted to be at

02:26and I thought it was a decent enough performance without being great.

02:30We don't think Jacob's injury is serious,

02:46but of course we're waiting to see the full extent.

02:48He's had a hamstring problem for a couple of weeks.

02:51He's had two scans that have come back clear,

02:53so we're not quite sure what's going on with him.

02:55Tino's information we only got confirmation this morning,

03:00so we need to digest that and then see what we do.

03:02Eddie, 2-0 disappointment, but I guess you still live to play another day this time.

03:16Yeah, I think we're still alive.

03:18We're still in there fighting.

03:19It's very difficult to turn it around, but it's still possible

03:22and football can conjure up some magical moments.

03:25Last year we were on the other side of the scoreline.

03:27We went to Arsenal and won 2-0 in that game.

03:29We felt we were still very much alive.

03:31It was all about the next goal in the tie really.

03:33I think that's going to be the case in this one.

03:35If we can get the next goal, we're still very much in it.

03:37And I think we saw enough today to say that we can be competitive.

03:40We didn't feel we were at our absolute best physically,

03:43but I still think we caused some problems

03:46so we're going to have to go with that same mindset again.

03:49We've got some Nisha, George and Ed from Rocks.

03:52Eddie, one of the positives today was Lewis Hall's performance.

03:56He was magnificent.

03:58How do you assess him and how he is going on this season?

04:02Yeah, we're delighted he's back fit.

04:04He's such an important player.

04:06He brings a real attacking drive from the left-back position.

04:11A real technically excellent player.

04:15And I think he's improving all the time,

04:17so we're pleased he's back with us.

04:19We need to try and keep him fit if we can.

04:21He's got a big responsibility to try and play as many games as he can

04:26and help the team, which I know he will do.

04:29But yeah, he's got a huge future ahead of him.

04:32And after two really hard-fought winners in the game,

04:36how do you stop the wind coming out of the sails

04:39to pick up where you're not done in the game?

04:43Well, I think we just have to look at this in isolation.

04:45I think it's a disappointing defeat,

04:47but I don't think it's a majorly disappointing performance.

04:51I don't think it should dent our confidence in any way.

04:53In fact, in some senses, I think it should enhance it.

04:55We're close to doing really well against the best teams in the division.

05:01But we have to refocus now.

05:04A really difficult game against Wolves,

05:06where if we go with any fatigue or without the right mindset,

05:09these are difficult games as we've found before this season.

05:12So I think Wolves will get our full respect and we'll have a plan to go there and try and win.

05:17George, one of the themes in the last couple of years is going to places and getting results,

05:24where Newcastle doesn't get results on Trafford and the Emeralds.

05:28Of course, one of the biggest things was the big one.

05:31Does this feel like the biggest challenge of the city's former home

05:36and also Newcastle's disappointing?

05:39Yeah, I think that's a great assessment.

05:42I think it is probably our biggest challenge, our biggest test of everything really,

05:47in our belief levels, our ability to score goals and defend.

05:52We're going to have to defend well in that game, otherwise we've got no chance.

05:55I think that's for another day.

05:57I think the beauty of the two-legged,

05:59the distance between the two legs means that you can just put it away and forget about it.

06:03We've got so many big games to come before the second leg.

06:06Who knows what mental state both teams will be in by the time that game comes around.

06:11I think we're still in the game if we can get the next goal.

06:16Yeah, I mean, to twist it around, having done it before, you can do it again?

06:20Yeah, as I said, I think the belief by the time the game comes around has to be there.

06:25And what better place to do it?

06:28We haven't got a good record there, I haven't got a good record there.

06:31But those records have to be broken, so I think that's the mindset.

06:34Eddie, not talking about the incident, but as a man who's given your life to football,

06:40being around it, where do you stand on it for five minutes, 30 seconds for an offside decision?

06:45Yeah, I think it's too long, especially on a cold night, not just for the players but for the supporters of both clubs.

06:51So I don't know why that took so long, I've got no idea, but for me it's too long.

06:56But if the right decision hopefully reached, then OK, but can we speed that up?

07:02We'll take a few more, we'll start with Damien and go to Scott and we'll finish with Daniel, please.

07:07Can I just show how fine the margins are at this level and how do you turn those margins your way into retail?

07:16Yeah, I mean, it does because Johan has that early chance in the game,

07:20which probably changes the whole mood and atmosphere of the stadium in that moment.

07:25There were several half-chances for us in that first half that Jacob Murphy was a real threat on the right-hand side

07:30and we were giving them issues and problems down that side of the pitch.

07:33And then, of course, James Trafford makes a great save from Johan again,

07:37and then Bruno hits the post.

07:39I think that's any game of football though, the swings of the game are so delicately poised all the time.

07:45I think our challenge is to try and stay on the right side of them.

07:48I thought we were a danger and a threat from set plays today,

07:51but we didn't quite get the goal that I think some of the deliveries in the box deserved.

07:57Scott?

07:59Denny, you said we need to look after Lewis,

08:02and yet the reality is you've got four defenders who've played tonight and probably Kieran,

08:07so Lewis has kind of gone out every game, Malik and Sven are kind of having to go out every game.

08:12How tough is that for you, knowing that players have played an awful lot football,

08:17but at least two of them have had injury problems already this season

08:20and yet you haven't been calling them again and again and again?

08:24Yeah, it's not the situation we want to be in.

08:26I think we've tried to rotate healthily this season in terms of dipping players in and out,

08:32to keep them fresh and available, to keep them in their best form, to be able to perform.

08:36Today we just felt we had no choice but not to play Harvey, Sandro, Nick,

08:42because they'd played 120 minutes two days ago and just the physical demands on that are so extreme

08:48that the likelihood is if we had have done, I think there's a much higher chance that they could get injured

08:52and we can't afford to lose anybody else.

08:54So defensively we're really stretched, we're sort of pinning our hopes on Dan being back pretty soon,

09:00Dan Byrne, that would give us a massive lift and of course the transfer market is still available to us.

09:06Last one, Daniel, please.

09:08Penny's been mentioning the way that there's a bit of a mountain decline in the second leg,

09:11but also that records are there to be broken, so how will you frame it to the players when it comes to that movement?

09:16Give me a chance to think first. I've got a little bit of time to get my head round it.

09:21I think that's for another day. Now my brain's already gone to Wolves,

09:26I'm making sure we go there in the right frame of mind, in the best physical condition,

09:29to try and keep our good Premier League form going.

09:33You mentioned fatigue as well, is it as much mental fatigue asking the players to go get as much as it is physical?

09:39No, I thought today was physical, 120 minutes, a lot of minutes for some of the other players

09:45against, as I said, the worst exponents of any fatigue,

09:48because no matter how we set up today there was going to be spells where we didn't have the ball.

09:52I thought the players dealt with it really well, especially in that first half,

09:57I thought we were well in the game, I thought we defended pretty well today as well

10:00and we conceded two goals, but they didn't have an abundance of chances.

10:04I'll look back at that, I'm sure, with mixed thoughts on how we played.

10:13Thanks, everyone. Safe travels. Cheers.

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