'Ooh' - Eddie Howe reacts to Newcastle United's 8-0 defeat to the A-League All Stars

Eddie Howe has reacted to Newcastle United’s 8-0 defeat to the A-League All Stars.

There was barely a senior face in sight at the Marvel Stadium as Howe named 11 changes from the penalty shootout win against Tottenham Hotspur on Wednesday.

Only Mark Gillespie, Alex Murphy and Joe White had featured more than once for the first-team in a competitive match while the likes of Ciaran Thompson, Dylan Charlton, Travis Hernes and Garang Kuol made their full debuts.

Newcastle were 3-0 down at half-time following goals from Ben Old, Nicolas Milanovic and Adam Taggart. Five more followed in the second-half through Jake Hollman, Jordan Courtney-Perkins and Bozhidar Kraev, while Apostolos Stamatelopoulos grabbed a brace.

Reflecting on the result, Howe said “Ooh, a tough one for our young lads. A difficult one for them to take but we probably saw the gap between experience and youth out there.”

The only senior players to feature in the matchday squad were Lewis Hall, Kieran Trippier and Elliot Anderson, but neither player was used from the bench. Nick Pope, Dan Burn, Paul Dummett, Jacob Murphy, Matt Ritchie, Harvey Barnes and Callum Wilson were rested while Emil Krafth, Joelinton, Miguel Almiron, Bruno Guimaraes and Alexander Isak left the camp on Thursday.

When asked if any first-team players could have featured, Howe responded: “I don't think we could have done, especially when you consider the travelling time that we've had and the quick turnaround that we've had, it would have been too big a risk of injury and we couldn't afford that.

“We gave an opportunity to the younger lads and they found it tough today.

“We have to do better than what we did today. I think too many mistakes were forced by the All-Stars, who played very well, a good performance from them. For us, I think the players individually need to reflect on that and see what they need to do to come back stronger.”