Newcastle latest: 'Still in there fighting' - Howe positive despite 'body blow' defeat

Newcastle United boss Eddie Howe to Sky Sports on his side's 2-0 defeat to Man City in the first leg of the Carabao Cup semi final: "It's a body blow [conceding last minute] but not fatal at the moment. "We're still in there fighting. "I think maybe a bit of naivety with a minute to go on the clock, that we're still trying to chase a goal. "In that moment, we needed to defend after we got our structure wrong from that position, and we got punished. "I think the lads gave everything today under difficult circumstances after the extra time on Saturday, and there was a bit of fatigue in our performance, but I can't fault the players." Newcastle boss Eddie Howe admitted going to the Etihad in February will prove a big test for his team, who have five more games to play before the second leg.“I think it is probably our biggest challenge, our biggest test of everything really, our belief levels, our ability, our ability to score goals and defend,” he said.“We’re going to have to defend well in that game, otherwise we’ve got no chance.“I think that’s for another day. I think the beauty of the distance between the two legs means you can just put it away and forget about it. We’ve got so many big games to come before the second leg.” Newcastle defender Dan Burn:"We'll look to start quick at Man City."If you can get an early goal it does change the tie."It's in a few weeks time and the lads will be bang up for it. Antoine Semenyo thought he scored his second for Manchester City against Newcastle but it was ruled out by Chris Kavanagh for a subjective offside call after Erling Haaland was deemed to have interfered with play. Sky Sports' Jamie Redknapp on Atoine Semenyo's disallowed goal:"If the goal is given not one person will say it shouldn't have been allowed."However, whether we like it or not, by the letter of the law it is the right decision."But that is five minutes of my life I am not getting back. The process took too long."Newcastle defender Dan Burn:"I do think it is the right decision, I just don't like the subjective offside. It's either offside, or it's not. We don't want to see that, but by the letter of the law it should be disallowed." Newcastle United boss Eddie Howe to Sky Sports on Yoane Wissa's early missed chance being a turning point: "Looking back with hindsight, you'd say that's potentially a big turning point. We wanted to get the crowd fully into the match. Manchester City want to do the opposite by retaining the ball and calm the crowd down, also it's always that dynamic by the two teams. "Yoane's a top player. He's still finding his very best level after a long time injured. Maybe in a couple more weeks that might've gone in."All I can look at is the effort levels of the players, and I think considering Saturday's efforts that we gave against Bournemouth, that was a great effort from the guys against the worst side that could expose that fatigue." Sky Sports' Micah Richards:"Man City were superb in the second half."Alleyne and Khusanov were outstanding, along with Trafford too."Newcastle had some decent bits and pieces, but Man City, on their second half performance, deserved to win." Newcastle skipper Dan Burn speaking to Sky Sports:"We had some really good chances. Wissa and Bruno. There were opportunities. That second goal was a killer. We know what we have to do - there will be belief we can get a result." Antoine Semenyo scored again for Manchester City as his new club took control of their Carabao Cup semi-final against holders Newcastle - but was controversially denied another goal by VAR.