Eddie Howe says Newcastle United’s Carabao Cup exit against Chelsea was a “painful moment” after conceding a goal in injury time before losing on penalties.
Howe stopped short at saying Moises Caicedo should have been sent off but stated that he had been told he should have been dismissed for a shocking challenge on Anthony Gordon early in the game. Howe and his players looked crestfallen as they left the field in the capital but Newcastle must now pick themselves up to face Luton on Saturday.
“It’s a very painful moment for us. We’ll just have to accept it, digest it very quickly because we go back to the Premier League and go to Luton. “That will be an emotional game.”
Sven Botman came off at half-time but has not picked up any type of injury. Howe said it was too early to know how badly injured Emil Krafth, victim of another bad challenge from Levi Colwill, and Gordon were on a brutal night.
He said: “Botman was a planned substitution after 45 minutes, a nice step for him. Krafth and Gordon got knocks.”
When asked about the game plan, Howe said: “It’s a very similar feeling to the end of the PSG game. The lads had committed so much, gave everything and we led for so long. We’d defended really, really well but we didn’t get over the line.
“Whenever we concede we concede collectively not individually. I thought as a team defensively today we were excellent. Our shape was so good and we denied them really clearcut chances. We had to make some changes again due to injuries. I can’t praise the players enough.
“We tried to refocus and forget the last part of the game and the fact that we were in a shootout to try to get to the semi-final. Penalty shootouts are always a lottery and we didn’t quite win it then.”
