Newcastle United captain Bruno Guimaraes fronted up in the aftermath of Saturday's 4-2 defeat at Brentford, admitting his side became a 'mess' after conceding a third goal at the Gtech Stadium.
Nathan Collins' goal, the fifth of the game and the third for Brentford, did indeed take the sting out of Eddie Howe's side, who failed to build on their positive first half display in the capital. Newcastle gifted all four goals to their opponents, who continued their impressive run on home soil.
The visiting fans had seen enough as Kevin Schade netted a fourth for Brentford late on, voting with their feet as Newcastle players were left to applaud a half empty away end after the full-time whistle. Moments after that sobering incident, Guimaraes stood in front of the cameras and admitted his team's performance had not been good enough.
"It's very disappointing. In the first half we had some good moments, but after the third goal we lost our way, we lost control," he told Premier League Productions.
"We have always been reactive, we need to concede a goal to score one ourselves. We never score first, we concede a lot of goals, this cannot happen. We have to find a way to be consistent.
"After we conceded the third goal, we became a mess, gave the ball away a lot, and we were punished. We have to turn things around. Last season we had one of the best defences in the league, now we concede a lot. It's about the whole team, we have to find a way not to concede."
Howe issued a similar diagnosis after the game, before sending an apology to those travelling fans who had battled wind, rain and storms to make the trip down to the capital.
"You want to make them proud and feel elated and you want to give them all the opposite emotions of what they were feeling today," he told reporters at full-time. "I would like to thank everyone who came today and I’m really sorry for what we had delivered and my pledge is we will always work as hard as we can to put it right."