Newcastle boss Eddie Howe on Anthony Gordon injury and what ‘really annoyed’ him in loss to Man City | OneFootball

Eddie Howe says the Anthony Gordon’s hamstring injury which forced him off against Manchester City is a “big worry”.

The winger had to come off in the first half of the 3-1 defeat, as Howe’s side were beaten 5-1 over two legs to exit the Carabao Cup at the semi-final stage.

“It looks like a hamstring problem,” Howe said on Gordon’s injury.

“I don’t quite know how bad it is but it was enough for him to come off so that’s a big worry.”

Reflecting on the defeat over two legs, Howe says missed opportunities were key but also criticised his side’s first-half performance in the second leg after going 3-0 down in just over half an hour.

“We were craving that first goal and when Manchester City get it you know our task becomes even more difficult,” he said.

“I don’t think we played well in the first half an hour, we lost far too many individual duels.

“If you add up all our opportunities over the two ties, there was a lot of missed opportunities which has really cost us.

“I was really annoyed with the first-half display because I think we pride ourselves on being really organised and tactically we want to be able to hand any problem the opposition gives us but that first half I just don’t think we were good enough individually and our duels were off.

“That gave us huge problems and we didn’t defend well at all I don’t think.”