'Most disappointing' - Eddie Howe and Dan Burn reveal dressing room message after Bournemouth loss

Eddie Howe has told Newcastle to view Saturday’s Premier League humbling by Bournemouth as a wake-up call in their mission to bring Champions League football back to Tyneside.

The Magpies ran out at St James’ Park chasing a club record 10th successive victory but trudged off the pitch 90 minutes later on the wrong end of a 4-1 scoreline having been completely out-played by Andoni Iraola’s men.

Three points would have taken the hosts into third place in the table for 24 hours at least and, while the blank they ultimately drew prompted a degree of soul searching, head coach Howe was quick to add context after seeing a blistering run of form come to a brutal conclusion.

He said: “Yes, we’ve lost three points but it’s maybe an important marker for us to go, ‘You drop your level against anybody at this level and you will get punished’.

“That’s the first time we’ve done that in a long time. We’ve been very, very good home and away, our collective qualities have been there on show. They weren’t there today. “We’d like to think in a few weeks, we’ll look back at this moment and think it was not necessarily a good thing but helped us in the long run to appreciate everything that we’ve delivered in recent weeks.”

In hindsight, there were hints that a difficult day might be in the offing for the Magpies as a gruelling schedule around the turn of the year took its toll. Wednesday night’s 3-0 home win over Wolves was nowhere near as comfortable as the scoreline suggested and Howe later admitted his team had ridden its luck somewhat before emerging victorious.

On Saturday, they were second-best from the off, never able to match the pace, power and invention of Bournemouth – all qualities which had characterised their nine-game winning streak – and therefore never able to exert the control they needed to prosper.

Justin Kluivert fired the visitors into an early lead and although Bruno Guimaraes levelled, the expected fightback never really gained the required momentum. Kluivert, whose father Patrick scored only one league goal at St James’ during his season as a Newcastle player back in 2004-05, took full advantage to complete a fine hat-trick before Milos Kerkez rounded off a remarkable performance in stoppage time.

Defender Dan Burn told NUFC TV: “It’s very disappointing. We have been on a great run, so it isn’t nice to get beaten, especially at home. “But to be fair to Bournemouth, they were the better team all over the park, in possession, out of possession, technically, physically. That’s the most frustrating thing. “We very rarely get out-worked and we were today, so that is the most disappointing thing.”