Thiaw fronted up to the media in the wake of Newcastle's 2-0 defeat to Fulham at Craven Cottage
Newcastle United's Malick Thiaw
Newcastle United's Malick Thiaw(Image: CameraSport via Getty Images)
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Newcastle United defender Malick Thiaw admits Sunderland qualifying for the Europa League on the final day of the Premier League season only compounded a miserable season for the Magpies.
Eddie Howe's side were comfortably beaten 2-0 by Fulham at Craven Cottage on Sunday afternoon as goals from Issa Diop and Tom Cairney condemned United to a 12th placed finish in the Premier League table.
Thiaw, who joined Newcastle in a £35million move from AC Milan last summer, made his 54th appearance of the season - comfortably the most of any Magpies star this season - but could not prevent his side falling to a 17th league defeat of the campaign.
As a result, a season that started out with ambitions of qualifying for the Champions League ended with Newcastle finishing in 12th place and languishing in the bottom half of the table.
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Meanwhile, their fierce local rivals Sunderland are preparing for just their second ever European campaign after a 2-1 win over Chelsea secured their place in the Europa League next season with a seventh placed finish.
And after Newcastle lost both derby matches to Sunderland this season, finishing five points beneath Regis Le Bris' side, Thiaw insists they have to use that disappointment as motivation to improve next season.
"The first day you come here, you learn about the rivalry and about Sunderland," Thiaw told Chronicle Live.
"It hurts us but we have two games next season against Sunderland. We have to be there next season against them."
Thiaw is one of a number of Newcastle players who will now jet off to represent their countries in the World Cup, with the 24-year-old set to represent Germany in a major competition for the first time.
But despite positive runs to the semi-finals of the Carabao Cup and the last 16 of the Champions League this season, Thiaw insists Newcastle's under-achievement in the Premier League this term will linger until he returns to pre-season on Tyneside in the summer.
"It's under our expectations. Our expectation was to perform better, especially in the Premier League. Sometimes it’s like this in football.
"It’s not like now we go home and think everything's all right. We have to analyse the details really big and what we can do better to come back stronger next season.
"If you look at how we performed in cup games, we played against Man City who won both of the competitions and in the Champions League we did all right.
"But in the Premier League we have to perform. That’s not what we want. We have to do better for our expectations.
"Now everybody goes for holidays, some guys go to the World Cup, and we have to think what we can do better to have a better season in the Premier League."