Newcastle United centre-half Dan Burn at St James' Park (Image: Owen Humphreys/PA Wire)
Newcastle United centre-half Dan Burn at St James' Park (Image: Owen Humphreys/PA Wire)
DAN BURN always expected this to be a transitional season for Newcastle United – but the Magpies skipper insists there is still plenty to be positive about ahead of this evening’s return game with Everton.
The Magpies crashed out of the Carabao Cup when they lost 3-1 at Everton’s Hill Dickinson Stadium last Thursday, with their below-par showing following a worrying trend that was established in heavy defeats at Leeds United and Coventry City.
However, on the flip side of their form this season, they have beaten Tottenham, Hull City and Crystal Palace and could climb as high as seventh if they turn the tables on David Moyes’ side on Tyneside tonight.
Newcastle underwent a large amount of change in the summer, with Anthony Gordon, Bruno Guimaraes and Sandro Tonali all departing and the club pivoting their transfer policy to prioritise the purchase of younger, less proven players.
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There was always a strong likelihood of that resulting in a fair amount of inconsistency, so while Burn was disappointed with his side’s performance on Merseyside last week, the centre-half insists it is important to retain a sense of perspective and not ignore some of the positive signs that have been apparent this season.
“I don’t think the season it really going any different to how I expected it,” said Burn, who is expected to remain in the starting line-up tonight. “We’re not necessarily playing catch-up.
“I knew there'd been a lot of change, so I knew it was going to take a while for the manager to get his philosophy across and for us to take it on.
“As players, we’ve had a lot of change, the young lads coming through. So, it’s going how I expected it would - I still think it’s going positively. We [can get to] seventh in the league. Obviously, it’s disappointing to be out of the cup, but there are a lot of positives.”
Newcastle’s summer recruitment drive has delivered mixed results so far. Lukas Hornicek and Amar Dedic have rapidly established themselves as regular starters and performed reasonably impressively in their first three months on Tyneside.
Sean Steur, Bazoumana Toure and Aladji Bamba have found game time much harder to come by, while Matias Fernandez-Pardo has struggled to make much of an impact following his high-profile move from Lille.
The latter four players are all aged 21 or under, so Burn is adamant they have to be given time to find their feet in a new country and a demanding new league.
“When you move to a new country, a new league, away from your family, it takes time to adapt,” said the England international. “We’re playing at a Premier League level where maybe you don’t have that time, but that’s the reality.
“It’s 18, 19, 20-year old kids, you can't expect them just to jump in and go. It’s about us supporting them. As the weeks go by, we’re getting more and more from them.
“The manager has said himself that a lot of the lads aren’t finished articles, but you see glimpses of them and it’s just about being able to do that on a consistent level. That takes time, but I have no doubt we’ve signed some very good players and they will be great players for Newcastle.”
The challenge tonight is to deliver a vastly-improved display from last Thursday and claim what would be only a second home league win of the season.
Newcastle’s last home outing saw them fail to land a blow on Aston Villa as they suffered a 1-0 defeat, and the Magpies also failed to seriously trouble the Everton defence as they crashed out of the League Cup last week.
Yoane Wissa was a half-time replacement for Will Osula on Merseyside and is likely to be a starter this evening if Osula has not recovered from the ankle injury that forced him off four days ago. Anthony Elanga could also be promoted to the starting XI after coming off the bench in the League Cup loss.
Malick Thiaw and Sven Botman were unused substitutes last week, and it will be interesting to see whether Jaissle continues with Burn and Fabian Schar as his first-choice centre-halves.
“I don’t think it’s all doom and gloom,” added Burn. “I can understand frustrations, especially when 8,000 Geordies travelled [to Everton]. I understand it, but I do think there are positives to take from what we’ve done. I'm looking forward to Monday and putting those wrongs right.”
Newcastle (probable, 4-2-3-1): Hornicek; Dedic, Schar, Burn, Hall; Gonzalez, Ramsey; Elanga, Willock, Barnes; Wissa.