Rafael Benitez has admitted that Newcastle United "need to improve in attack" but was "not concerned" by his side's display in the EFL Cup second-round defeat at Nottingham Forest.
The Magpies were behind for most of Wednesday night's game at the City Ground after Daryl Murphy opened the scoring for the hosts on two minutes.
Although Salomon Rondon equalised in injury time, the Reds weighed in with two late goals to win 3-1 and send Newcastle out of the competition for the second successive season.
"I don't agree that Forest were the better team and I'm not concerned by how we played," Benitez told Sky Sports News at full time.
"We did well to control the game after the first minute when we conceded. They were able to play on the counter-attack.
"We did not create many chances so we need to improve in attack and keep working hard. It's a long season, we knew it was going to be hard but we have confidence in ourselves."
Forest met Newcastle at the same stage of the competition last season and claimed a 3-2 victory at St James' Park.
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