Inside the St James’ Park dressing room on the 22nd March, there won’t have been a player feeling the effects of Newcastle United’s catastrophic defeat to Sunderland more than Dan Burn.
Leading up to the derby, Dan Burn had spoken about his excitement at finally getting to take part in a Premier League derby game at St James’ Park. Something he had dreamt about since he was a kid.
Everything was set up for a Newcastle win until they went to Spain and got hammered 7-2 by Barcelona, and got the stuffing knocked out of them. Still, it was a derby game, we were gunning for Europe, we were above Sunderland in the league, and we had home advantage. It still should have been a win.
The less said about the game, the better, but it was the last Premier League game before a three-week break, which is a long time to have to wait to get things back on track. Dan Burn has been away with England, but now that the friendlies are over and done with, his focus is back on Newcastle.
Burn spoke to The Chronicle at Wembley and admitted that he’s looking forward to getting into training at Benton, saying that the team is better when they have time to actually train.
“We need to get our minds back on to the Premier League pretty quickly. We have seven games and I have said it many times before, we are a better team when we have a week between games, and have time to train.
“This is where time will tell, or I’m deemed to be chatting rubbish! But seriously, I am looking forward to getting back around the lads.
“We want to put in some really good training between now and the end of the season. And I’m still hoping we can get a European place.”
Newcastle are a better team when they only play once a week, but that’s not the team they want to be. Unfortunately, to be at the top of the game, we have to play every three or four days. We can’t win things and just forego Europe.
The Magpies have seven games remaining, and if they win all seven of those, which is a big ask, they will stand a good chance of returning to the Champions League, and a very good chance at one of the Europa competitions.
With training now back on the agenda, Dan Burn seems to think Newcastle still has what it takes to achieve the dream
“It is still very tight in the Premier League. It is the type of league where everyone beats everyone.
“I’d still back us against anybody when we play well. We will be looking to turn around our form and really attack the end of the season.”