Eddie Howe has refuted Roy Keane’s suggestion that his Newcastle team has a psychological problem playing at Manchester United.

The Magpies went down 3-2 at Old Trafford on Wednesday evening to a Red Devils side which has struggled for much of the campaign, in the process surrendering sixth place in the Premier League to Chelsea.

That prompted TV pundit Keane, the former Manchester United captain, to suggest afterwards that Newcastle’s issue – they have won only once in the league at Old Trafford since 1972 – was a “head job”, an accusation dismissed by Howe.

The Newcastle head coach said: “We’ve lost some of the characteristics away from home that we need, but I think that lies in some of the players that we’ve been missing. Of course if it’s not there, we have to try to develop that, but I think that comes in part with experience.

“Certainly towards the end of the season, we’ve had a very young team – which is great in some senses – but also you can’t put a price sometimes on experience, especially away from home when the game is in the balance, so there’s certainly a lot for us to think about.”

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The Magpies head into their final-day trip to Brentford knowing they could yet finish sixth ahead of Chelsea, but equally might slip to eighth behind Manchester United, while even seventh would leave them without European football next season if Erik ten Hag’s men were to win the FA Cup.

For a club which finished fourth 12 months ago to book a return to the Champions League after a 20-year absence, that would come as a significant disappointment at the end of a frustrating campaign.

Howe said: “I think we’ll look back with a tinge of ‘what could have been’ in many aspects, whether you’re talking the FA Cup, the Carabao Cup, the Champions League, the Premier League.

“I think we’ve done OK, I think we’ve done well – but it could have been so different, it could have been even more memorable, so that will be a frustration that will live with me.”

Last Saturday’s 1-1 home draw with Brighton and the midweek reverse at Old Trafford have seen Newcastle stall just at the wrong time, although Howe is confident they can bounce back to gain tangible reward for a tough season.

He said: “Before the last two games, we had the initiative and now we don’t and it’s not in our hands any more, but we have to deal with it.

“We can only control now our performance and our result against Brentford and we have to do everything we can to do our part because what you don’t want is for the other teams to make a mistake and we’re not there to capitalise on it.”

Howe hopes to have striker Callum Wilson back from illness, but will make a late check on winger Anthony Gordon, who returned from Old Trafford with a sore ankle.