‘A lot of lads’: Eddie Howe is not worried about squad depth as injury crisis continues

Newcastle United face a tough few weeks with a depleted squad and a hectic schedule, though Eddie Howe isn't complaining.

Speaking after the 2-2 draw with Wolverhampton Wanderers on Saturday, Howe said he won't be moaning about the congested schedule as it's part and parcel of being at the 'pinnacle' of football.

The head coach is facing his first real injury crisis as Newcastle manager with five first-team players absent through injury and one suspended for the remainder of the season.

Newcastle will want revenge for last season's Carabao Cup final loss

It's up front that Newcastle are feeling it the most. With just two strikers in the 25-man squad, losing one was always going to stretch the side. Now, with Alexander Isak out until after the next international break, the burden of leading the line falls squarely on Callum Wilson, who isn't the most durable of players.

Wednesday evening sees the Magpies come up against Manchester United in the Carabao Cup. Newcastle will want revenge for last year's final, but with so many players missing and the current starting XI looking so tired, Howe may have to make a significant number of changes to the starting lineup.

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Eddie Howe expects he will have to change things up soon

Howe's comments after the Wolves game (via NewcastleWorld) certainly hinted that there would be some changes.

“I’d be reluctant to say I’m not looking forward to the game and the game’s not a good one for us. We’re in a cup competition and we want to try and progress.

I think we’ve got to be very careful with the team selection, we’ve got to try and get that right. We’re very, very thin on the ground in certain areas.

But every player wants to play football and a lot of lads will get a lot of football in the next few weeks.”

If Manchester United's performance against their rivals Manchester City yesterday is anything to go by then Howe could afford to change the entire starting lineup. They were absolutely woeful.

We're hoping we'll see Tino Livramento from the start; if there's any player who needs to be rested right now it's Kieran Trippier. The 33-year-old has really struggled in the last two games, after being wonderful all season.

The head coach has some very difficult decisions to make

Could it also be time to see what Lewis Hall can do? We've got some exciting young talent that's not getting their chance to shine and surely Wednesday is a good opportunity to give them a run out.

With the current state of the squad, it wouldn't actually be the worst thing to drop out of a competition to give the players and coaching staff some breathing room. At the same time, if we can get past Manchester United, then who's to say we can't go on to win the whole thing?