Two Newcastle United players Eddie Howe wanted to take off v Bournemouth - but couldn't

Newcastle United are assessing Fabian Schar and Sean Longstaff after both players appeared to pick up knocks during the 2-0 defeat to Bournemouth.

The Magpies were without 12 senior players - 10 just because of injury - for Saturday evening's trip to the South Coast and that situation got worse half an hour in when Miguel Almiron withdrew with a hamstring issue.

But the concerns didn't stop there, it seems, with both Schar and Longstaff requiring treatment. They completed 90 minutes but Howe admitted he was "unclear" over their injury status.

Asked about Almiron, Schar and Longstaff, Howe told BBC Sport: "I don't know. Miguel Almiron's looks like a hamstring problem but I don't know how serious that is. We won't know for a few days.

"It's unclear how Fabian Schar and Sean Longstaff are feeling."

He added: "There's a couple of players in an ideal world we'd have taken off earlier today but we couldn't, we weren't in a position to do that. That a sign of how stretched we are."

With Callum Wilson adding to Newcastle's injury problems pre-match, Howe named three under-21s players, Amadou Diallo, Alex Murphy and Ben Parkinson, on the bench, while 17-year-old Lewis Miley was handed his first league start.

Parkinson was surprisingly brought on for his Premier League debt in the final half an hour, while Matt Ritchie, Tino Livramento and Emil Krafth were also used off the bench.

The lack of options was a cause for concern before the game, Howe admits.

"No criticism of the young guys who came onto the pitch today," said Howe. "Lewy Miley and Ben Parkinson, I thought they did well. It was a tough environment for them. Bournemouth played well and we didn't.

"That was a concern before the game that we didn't have the options to change the game if we needed to and with Miggy's injury that become worse for us," said Howe.

"We're just going through one of those moments where we're going to be tested, we've got a really tough schedule, a lot of injured players. It was probably a game too far."

The Premier League now pauses for the two-week international in what comes at a good time for United. Their injury situation won't ease significantly but Bruno Guimaraes will return his one-match suspension. It's hoped Alexander Isak can recover from a groin issue

Howe said: "It's come at a good time for us but I don't think it will bring a flood of players back. We have long-term injured players so hopefully we can get one or two.

"Bruno's suspension was a painful one for us, we obviously missed him as we knew we would. We'll wait and see."