Newcastle United captain Dan Burn has said his team-mates have been told in no uncertain terms that the performance at Coventry City was unacceptable, as the Magpies crashed to a 4-1 defeat against the newly promoted side.
Burn made his comeback at the CBS Arena, playing his first competitive minutes since featuring for England at the World Cup after shaking off an ankle injury. By that point, Newcastle were already 4-1 down. The 6ft 7in centre-back witnessed the negative reaction and boos from some of the 3,030 fans who made the trip to the East Midlands.
Fan travel ordeal and Burn's message
The journey was compounded the morning after by lengthy train delays back to the North East from the second city, after fans had already travelled back from Coventry to Birmingham New Street. But Burn hopes things will be put right by the time the Midlands club head to Tyneside.
Burn told reporters after the game: "Thanks for following us as always, it is never through a lack of effort when we're not picking up results. It is fine margins in this league so from here we are doing everything in our power to put that right."
The boyhood Newcastle fan returned to the squad along with Joelinton, William Osula and Amar Dedic, but their return could not inspire a win over Frank Lampard's newly promoted squad.
Defeat highlights Premier League ruthlessness
Burn said: "It was disappointing, disappointing to concede four goals at any point but I think off the back of the Hull game, I think we wanted to be a bit more consistent. Obviously, it does not help to concede so early. I still think we had a lot of chances and I think those were pivotal moments where we could be back in the game. And we could be speaking about a completely different game then. They scored decent goals from outside the box but you can't concede four goals away from home and expect to get anything."
Rather than lambast a young squad still getting to grips with life in a new league and new country, Burn hopes the defeat can prove to be a lesson. The ex-Wigan and Brighton & Hove Albion star feels the defeat underlined just how ruthless the Premier League can be.
Burn said: "We could have gone fourth if we'd won the game so it absolutely shows the standard of the Premier League. But I think it is a learning curve as well. We've gone from having one of the oldest squads last season to one of the youngest. People now see that you can't have an off night at any point because teams in the Premier League will punish you."
He added: "We've been punished at Coventry. We're massively frustrated and the lads are disappointed, we felt like we were picking up some momentum. So I think we need to find that consistency and look to bounce back from this."
