Eddie Howe has warned his Newcastle United players they have to be 'more clinical' if the Magpies are to reach their first League Cup semi-final in 47 years.
Newcastle welcome Leicester City to St James' Park on Tuesday night as the black-and-whites bid to reach the last four of the competition for the first time since 1976. This quarter-final tie was always going to be a huge occasion, but it has only grown in importance after Newcastle were eliminated from the FA Cup by League One side Sheffield Wednesday last time out.
Wasteful Newcastle had 22 shots at Hillsborough yet the visitors only scored once in the shock 2-1 defeat as Alexander Isak, Jacob Murphy, Elliot Anderson and Chris Wood all spurned decent openings. Bruno Guimaraes' goal ultimately proved nothing more than a mere consolation after a double from Josh Windass had already put Wednesday in control of the third-round clash.
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How Newcastle respond to that upset will be telling after the much-changed visitors suffered their first defeat since August on Saturday night. Howe has already vowed to go 'full strength' and Nick Pope, Kieran Trippier, Fabian Schar, Dan Burn, Bruno, Joe Willock, Miguel Almiron and Callum Wilson are all expected to be recalled to the starting line-up against Leicester.
Whoever plays, Howe is sure his side will be 'highly motivated' for the 'biggest game of the season' - but they will simply have to take their chances.
"Psychologically that would be a great thing for us to go to a two-legged semi-final," the Newcastle boss told reporters. "We are very keen to try and get there and experience that, but we have a very tough opponent in our way.
"We have to be more clinical. If we look back at the Leeds game and Saturday, there were too many chances not taken."
As Howe alluded to, Newcastle's lack of composure in front of goal at Hillsborough came just a week after the Magpies failed to score in a goalless draw against Leeds United - despite having 16 shots. In fact, Newcastle have only scored one goal in their last three games albeit it is important to stress that run included an impressive 0-0 draw against league leaders Arsenal.
Still, of the 75 efforts Newcastle have had in their five games since the World Cup break, a whopping 52 shots have failed to even hit the target. Of the 23 shots Newcastle have managed to get on target, only five have found the back of the net.
Three of those goals came against Leicester on Boxing Day in a ruthless display that saw Newcastle race into a 3-0 lead after Chris Wood, Miguel Almiron and Joelinton all got on the scoresheet inside 32 minutes. That was a statement performance in Newcastle's first Premier League game after the World Cup break, but Howe does not believe the 3-0 win will have any bearing on the rematch 15 days later.
"This game will be different to Boxing Day," he added. "Brendan [Rodgers] is a very good tactician. That game slightly flattered us in terms of the scoreline. We played well but it certainly was not an easy game for us.
"We understand the quality that they have. We are going to need to be at our best to get through."
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