What Eddie Howe did with his team after Newcastle were eliminated from the Champions League

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Eddie Howe was absolutely gutted to see his Newcastle side get dumped out of the Champions League against AC Milan last week after all of their hard work.

Newcastle had done so well to come away with four points from their opening two games in the competition, but it all fell apart after consecutive defeats to Borussia Dortmund.

Now, The Athletic have revealed what Howe did with his team after their elimination from the competition and ahead of the game against Fulham.

Howe held a team meeting after defeat to Milan

With no more European football to play in, Newcastle’s sole focus now rests on the domestic competitions with a big win against Fulham in the Premier League at the weekend and now a Carabao Cup quarter final against Chelsea tomorrow.

Howe was keen to ensure that his Newcastle’s players heads didn’t drop after the Milan game and so gathered the squad for a meeting to discuss how they would tackle the second half of the season.

From Friday onwards, Howe wants his players to effectively ‘start afresh‘ as they head into the busy Christmas schedule and into the new year.

Europe may be out of the question, but all is not lost with the team still sitting in a very healthy position in the league and three competitions to play for.

Newcastle can still enjoy a historic season

Though things may seem like they’re on a downward spiral at the moment with the European exit, the Premier League defeats and the injury crisis, there is still so much hope for the rest of the season.

A few good results in the next run of games and suddenly Newcastle could find themselves in another semi final and within touching distance of the Champions League spots.

A win in the derby at the beginning of January would also be absolutely massive, so Howe is definitely correct in telling his players not to dwell on what has happened in the past week.

Even if they don’t finish top four again, it would not be a bad season for Newcastle who can regroup in the summer and continue to build towards their long-term project which didn’t have the club in the Champions League at this stage anyway.