EDDIE Howe says the painful Carabao Cup final defeat to Manchester United intensified his desire to be the manager who ends Newcastle United's trophy drought.

Howe says he's "desperate" to win silverware and bring success to St James' Park - with his Newcastle side looking to take a big step towards securing European football for next season when they host Manchester United tomorrow.

Newcastle's boss has re-watched the cup final loss on numerous occasions since suffering Wembley heartbreak and tossed and turned at night pondering what his side could have done differently on the day.

But he says his players deserve immense credit for the way they've responded, with Newcastle keeping their Champions League dream alive with crucial successive wins against Wolves and Nottingham Forest before the break.

He says: "There was a disappointment (after the final), I’ve had many of them in my career. There was a moment where, as I said, that night I ended up watching the game back, and you’re just looking for what could we have done differently, how could we have won that game. That’s a normal process for when we don’t achieve what we want. Natural disappointment but quickly focus on the next challenge.”

Asked whether that defeat intensified his own desire to win a trophy on Tyneside, Howe said: “Definitely, definitely. I think whenever you come close to doing something but don’t ultimately get over the line it only intensifies your motivations and desires to achieve that. I’m desperate to do it for everyone connected with the club.”

For years, Newcastle would have approached a game against Manchester United as huge underdogs and yet just three points separate the sides ahead of Sunday's encounter.

Pressed on whether Newcastle and Manchester United are now equals, Howe said: “I don’t think that is for me to judge and it is not what I spend my time doing. I just make sure when we turn up we are a better team than we were the week before. That is the aim. I never spend time comparing ourselves to anyone else.

“I think we have tried this season to approach every game as equals with whoever we are playing. Certainly in our preparations, we’ve tried not to filter anything negative through to the players.

"What I mean by that is we have tried to be very positive in our approach in every aspect of our play, whether that is on or off the ball, a fearless approach, an approach which hopefully makes the players believe we can win that game home or away because ultimately that is the team we want to be in the future.

“Last season was slightly different. We had to play a certain way to get results to elevate our way up the league so if you look at a game from last season to this, I hope you see a big difference in terms of our style and how we want to play. We are certainly evolving, hopefully into a better team.”

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While there's very little to separate the sides on the pitch, Manchester United are still operating with a far bigger budget than Newcastle as things stand. Newcastle have obviously been boosted by the takeover in the last 12 months, but Howe says his side's success is down to a lot more than just money.

Howe said: “I would make the point that there are a lot of clubs with bigger budgets than us.

"I’ve said all along, our success is not based on money at all. I’m seeing the work and the spirit and the togetherness of the group, what every player is giving to the cause.

"When a team is successful it is not down to one thing, it’s a collective and a lot of different aspects go into that. It’s the same if a team isn’t performing well. We will keep doing what we are doing.”