Eddie Howe admits Newcastle fell short at St James' Park in Aston Villa loss

Villa secured the points through goals from Emi Buendia and Ollie Watkins, punishing Newcastle in key moments despite a competitive performance from the hosts. 

Howe was clear that frustration, rather than excuses, defined his reaction to the loss.

"When you lose a game like we did today, there's a valid argument for everything," Howe said. "Everyone wants to change something. We have the players that we have and we have to find a solution with those players."

The Newcastle boss stressed that major changes were not possible in the short term and insisted the focus had to remain on improving the current group. "There's no point me thinking we need another type of player because it's not going to happen," he added. "The next chance we'll really have to change the squad will be the summer.

"It's about getting the best out of the players we have."

Howe felt Newcastle competed well for long periods but lacked cutting edge in decisive areas. "I don't think we played badly, but around the goal we could have done better. We created chances and, on another day, I think we score."

He also dismissed fatigue as a factor. "Villa had a very similar schedule to us and just executed the final bit better," Howe said, praising the visitors' game management.

Newcastle now faced a demanding run, travelling to Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League on Wednesday before returning to St James' Park to play Liverpool in the Premier League on Saturday.