The Newcastle United star injured against Arsenal who played full game v Borussia Dortmund

Eddie Howe believes Newcastle United's Champions League clash at Borussia Dortmund came a day too early for his threadbare squad.

The Magpies' hopes of qualifying for the last 16 of the competition hang in the balance after goals from Niklas Fullkurg and Julian Brandt inflicted a 2-0 defeat at the Signal Iduna Park.

United were without 12 senior players because of injuries, suspensions and ineligiblity and travelled to Dortmund just three days after beating Premier League title challengers Arsenal 1-0 at St James' Park.

“From our side, we weren’t far away tonight and I think that’s the thing to take," Howe told reporters after the game. "Us at our very best, even with the number of players we have out, are good enough. We have to take collective responsibility for that.

"The players gave so much, I’m not questioning what they’ve given but maybe the game came too quickly for us. The turnaround was maybe a day too early.”

As a result of the quick turnaround, Howe made three changes to his starting XI. The injured Dan Burn was replaced by Lewis Hall at left-back, while Tino Livramento and Joe Willock came in for Miguel Almiron and Anthony Gordon.

Indeed, it was the latter's exclusion that was the most surprising but Howe revealed the decision was to protect the forward's fitness. Gordon and Almiron were introduced at half-time in place of Hall and Callum Wilson, who had tightness in his hamstring.

Howe said: “I think we’ve lost the ability to make certain decisions. In a sense, I’m being forced to make certain decisions and pick certain teams.

"Looking at Anthony Gordon, he played for 90 minutes against Arsenal and gave absolutely everything physically, and I think the turnaround for him was just too quick. I didn’t think he could start the match, so we had to use him as an impact player.

"In a different set of circumstances, you’d probably have liked to have played a different type of winger, but I’m not going to sit here and make excuses, that’s what we have.”

Howe had little choice but to keep Kieran Trippier in the starting line-up, despite the England international suffering a dead leg during Saturday's clash against Arsenal.

“I think he’s OK," said Howe. "He had a bit of a dead leg from the Arsenal game and they can be sore for a few days, but not a muscle problem.”