Eddie Howe urges Newcastle players to ‘deal with’ Barcelona thrashing ‘quickly’ after manager matches infamous Gary Neville record

The scale of the defeat in Catalonia was a significant blow to Newcastle's European ambitions, but it also saw Howe join an exclusive and unwanted club. By witnessing his side ship seven goals, Howe became the first Englishman to manage at the iconic stadium since Neville in 2016.

Neville’s tenure at Valencia was famously marred by a 7-0 Copa del Rey thrashing at the hands of the Blaugrana. The Magpies found themselves similarly overwhelmed during a total defensive collapse, despite a spirited first half where Anthony Elanga found the net twice to keep the contest competitive before the interval.

Speaking after the final whistle, Howe was blunt about the need for his squad to put the result behind them, encouraging his players to look ahead to the next match with high motivation.

“I have no problem picking myself up, it is more the players,” said Howe as quoted by The Guardian. “I am able to move quite quickly through things, through games and the review process. Now it is all about Sunderland. It is not about today, it is about making sure we are mentally and physically ready to go into a huge game. I think it’s a good game for us to go into.

“Sunday is huge. It’s difficult for me to talk about it now. We have just got to play like our lives depend on it. It’s such a big game for the city, for the supporters, for the players, for the whole club. We need to deal with this very quickly and look to Sunday.”

Howe insisted that his team showed their true identity for portions of the contest but was left frustrated by the nature of the goals conceded. He pointed to uncharacteristic individual errors and poor set-piece organisation that allowed Barcelona to run riot during the closing stages of the match.

“We gave them a really good game for 90 minutes at St James’ Park and half the game today. That should not all be forgotten, as difficult as the scoreline is to see. That doesn’t reflect how the game was,” Howe added.

“Our defending was not at the level it had been against Chelsea. The first goal, two players slipped. Then there’s a set play. And then the big moment is the penalty. As well as we played in the first half – and I thought we were outstanding, it was a great representation of what we want to be – we made too many errors.

“If we had defended the way we can, we would not have gone in at half‑time trailing. Then we conceded another set play. The first four goals were strange from us: you can’t concede like that. The two set-play goals are unforgivable in that they are regulation. That can’t happen. I don’t think psychologically we recovered [from Lamine Yamal’s penalty].”

Newcastle will now prepare for the Tyne-Wear derby against Sunderland in the Premier League. The Magpies are ninth in the table with 42 points from 30 matches, nine points adrift of the Champions League places. With eight Premier League matchdays remaining, Howe's side will be pushing hard to secure a place in Europe next season, most likely in either the Europa League or the Conference League.