Newcastle United stars fumed after the 2-1 loss to Fulham in an "angry" dressing room inquest, as the squad accepted they'd fallen below the high standards they had set for themselves.

The deep disappointment as the Toon players left the field was etched all over their faces. Howe did not read the riot act to his players and knows how delicately balance the season currently is for Newcastle.

They are still very much in the hunt for Champions League football next season and still in two domestic cups, 90 minutes away from Wembley no less. Afterwards, Howe put in a measured and calm display in front of the media.

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But insisted nobody is taking the defeat lightly, he said: "I’ve only been in briefly, but I hope it’s disappointment and anger, and I hope we use that for our next game. We didn’t have the control we would have wanted. I thought there were similarities to the Bournemouth game, unfortunately for us. That’s painful for us.

"I don’t think we were great athletically again today, which was really surprising. We had a really good training week, and I really liked the look of us going into the game. I had a really good feeling about how we would perform, but it didn’t materialise into the game. I thought we were wasteful on the ball, we weren’t anywhere near our best technical level. If you put that together, that’s not the recipe for a great performance, and it certainly wasn’t from us. We probably deserved to lose the game."

Paul Mitchell watches on with the transfer window still open

Did Newcastle's sporting director see anything that set any alarm bells off against the Cottagers? A glance down the substitute bench showed a mix of youth and experience but in the end Kieran Trippier, Joe Willock, Lewis Miley, Lloyd Kelly or William Osula could not influence this game in any way, shape or form as Newcastle crashed to defeat.

Kelly remains of interest to Juventus, but even after offloading Miguel Almiron for £11 million to Atlanta United, Howe stressed he couldn't bring in any new faces. Selling a bigger name could generate a bigger kitty of course but that is unthinkable to many fans.

And with two days left, Newcastle have not got much time to make any big calls. It feels like frustration is in the air and it boils down to PSR woes.

Newcastle have 14 games to get back on track

Even before Newcastle had set foot on the field against Fulham, Nottingham Forest had delivered a huge, huge statement by demolishing Brighton 7-0.

The victory came after Forest had lost 5-0 just a week earlier at Bournemouth while the Cherries' defeat at home to Liverpool also seemed to rebalance recent weeks. The truth is Liverpool are running away with the title and Newcastle have a lot of work to do to catch Arsenal and Forest.

That could leave Newcastle, Man City, Chelsea and Bournemouth fighting for one or two spots in Europe's premier competition. I stated before the game that Newcastle must beat the sides below them if they are to be taken seriously for Champions League contention.

Bearing in mind their remaining away fixtures include acid tests at Liverpool, Man City, Aston Villa, Brighton and Arsenal, there is little room for error now. Beating Forest at home later this month is now absolutely key but that will be difficult.

Crystal Palace, Brentford, Man United, Ipswich, Chelsea and Everton must also visit St James' Park. It's going to be tight.