'That's nice' - Eddie Howe dismisses classy Thomas Frank comment about Newcastle United - with good reason

Sandro Tonali scored twice and Fabian Schar made it 3-0 before Yoane Wissa pulled back a consolation goal in stoppage time. Newcastle progressed to the semi-final with the draw set to take place after Tottenham Hotspur v Manchester United on Thursday evening.

Liverpool and Arsenal progressed along with Newcastle to the final four of the competition which will be played over two legs next month.

"We lost on the day to a better team,” Frank said afterwards. “We can't concede three goals. That's the bit I'm very disappointed with.

"We have to sort that out. In a difficult quarter-final, we can't concede three soft goals. Fair play to Newcastle, some were well worked. But if we want to progress to semi-finals we need to do better."

Newcastle will be outsiders to end a 70-year domestic trophy drought and win the Carabao Cup, but Frank wants to see Eddie Howe’s side go all the way.

“I want Newcastle to win [the Carabao Cup],” he said. “I think they can win it. We have Liverpool, Arsenal [in the semi-final] - we need a change. It would mean more to the Newcastle fans as well.”

While Howe appreciated Frank’s kind words, his managerial focus switches quickly back to Premier League action in a few days’ time.

“That’s nice of Thomas but we have to just focus on the football,” Howe said. “We have some big Premier League games in between so we have to focus on them. In the blink of an eye we’ll be at Portman Road and we have to be ready for that game now.

"I thought we scored some really good goals. It was great to see Sandro score the two that he did. Just a really good feeling about the group at the moment. We are building in confidence all the time.

"We are starting to see the best of him [Tonali]. The tweak in position has definitely helped him, he is a lot more comfortable when he is deeper on the pitch. He is showing all the qualities that we knew when we signed him. It is just about finding the right balance for him and the team.”