Newcastle signed off for the summer in a fittingly disappointing fashion on Sunday as they slumped to a 2-0 defeat to Fulham at Craven Cottage. That saw the Magpies end the season in 12th, their worst finishing position of Eddie Howe’s four-and-a-half year reign on Tyneside.
At the same time as Newcastle were losing on the banks of the Thames, Sunderland were seeing off Chelsea at the Stadium of Light to finish seventh and claim a place in next season’s Europa League.
For only the second time in the two clubs’ history, Sunderland will be playing in Europe next season while Newcastle have no continental competition to look forward to, a situation Thiaw admits is a painful one for both players and fans.
“The first day you come here, you learn about the rivalry and about Sunderland,” said the Germany international, who will now turn his attention to the forthcoming World Cup after being confirmed in Julian Nagelsmann’s squad along with team-mate Nick Woltemade.
“It hurts us. But we have two games next season against Sunderland. We have to be there next season against them.”
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Thiaw joined Newcastle in a £35m move from AC Milan last summer, and has emerged as arguably the only success story from what has proved to be a disastrous summer transfer window for the Magpies.
The centre-half has established himself as one of Howe’s first-choice defenders, but while Newcastle performed creditably in the Champions League this season, making the last 16, their league form has nosedived dramatically.
The Magpies lost 17 league matches this term – only the three relegated teams, Wolves, Burnley and West Ham, suffered more Premier League defeats – and lost more points from winning positions than any other side in the top-flight.
“It’s under our expectations,” admitted Thiaw. “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 alright.
“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.”