Newcastle boss Eddie Howe wants ‘game-changing’ return to Champions League | OneFootball

Newcastle’s Carabao Cup party is over as Eddie Howe pursues a “game-changing” return to the Champions League.

Around 300,000 fans turned out to welcome the club’s first major trophy in seven decades back to Tyneside on Saturday.

But for head coach Howe and his players, the focus has already turned to Wednesday’s Premier League clash with Brentford at St James’ Park and the race to rub shoulders with Europe’s elite once again.

Asked if Champions League football next season represented a bigger prize than the League Cup, Howe said: “There’s no doubting the power of Champions League football.

“It could be game-changing in terms of revenue and also in terms of what it means and the competition, and then of course the changes that you have to make to be ready for Champions League football.

“That changes everything – as we found last year to our cost to some degree with the extra games – so there’s a lot to think about.

“But for us, qualifying for that is going to be very, very difficult. There are, as we know, 10 games, there are a lot of teams competing for those places.

“It’s one of the tightest Premier Leagues that we’ve seen in recent times, very little between the teams competing for those places, so it’s going to come down to who is the most consistent.

“Of course, we want that to be us and in those 10 games, we are going to have to give everything to get there.”

Sixth-placed Newcastle played in the Champions League last season for the first time in 20 years, but they know they have their work cut out if they are to make it again.

Their big day at Wembley coincided with one of their best performances of the campaign as goals from Dan Burn and Alexander Isak secured a 2-1 win over league leaders Liverpool.

However, Howe admits consistency remains an issue and a run of three defeats in their last five home games – by Bournemouth and Fulham in the league and Brighton in the FA Cup – is testament to that fact.

The 47-year-old said: “I can’t argue with that. That is the big question mark against us, and I include myself in that.

“That is the big question: can we be that team that we were against Liverpool? You can’t be there every game, but you can still reach a standard and win the game. That is what we have got to try to do.

“We have done it – we played West Ham before the final, didn’t play great, but won the game through defensive steel, really.

“We have to find ways to win games when we are not at our best so hopefully when your performance is where it needs to be, you have the quality to win.”