Newcastle United's new leadership group confirmed

Welcome to St. James’ Park this afternoon, where we have a real opportunity to finish this block of games before the international break with a win.

I want to start by welcoming three new players to our Leadership Group this season. In addition to myself and Joelinton as captain and vice-captain, we now have Malick Thiaw, Yoane Wissa and Lewis Miley to help set the standards on the pitch, in the dressing room and around the training ground.

It’s up to us as a Leadership Group to take responsibility, but we also know that we have leaders throughout the squad and everyone must play their part.

That has especially been important this week after the disappointing result at Leeds on Monday. We made a big thing about needing to match them physically but we didn’t end up doing that, so the lads felt frustrated. It’s a young group who always want to perform well, so it was probably a bit of a learning curve for some of the lads who haven’t been here before or played in the Premier League before.

It was our first defeat of the season, but sometimes that can be a blessing because when everything is going well, there is a danger that you can get ahead of yourselves. I don’t think we did that here, however it’s a reminder that to win games you have to be 100% all of the time. It’s a good learning moment for the team and hopefully we can take the lessons from it.

Now, it’s about putting in a good reaction against Hull – it’s our last game before the international break and last in this first block of matches.

The good thing is the group is still very, very positive. We’ve always had a good group but the lads that we’ve added bring a fresh energy to it as well. I’d expect a big response to the Leeds game, but also knowing Hull have started really well this season and we won’t be taking them lightly this afternoon.

When teams get promoted, they’re riding the crest of a wave for the first few months. Hull won a lot of games last season, so when they start picking up results, you can see the momentum building.

I’ve said before, when we’ve done well in seasons gone by, the home record has been our bread and butter. We win at home and get good results. So we’ve started well here, but to really make sure we’ve nailed this block of games, it will be important to get a good result this afternoon.

I’ll be cheering the lads on with you this afternoon. My recovery is coming on well, I’m not in the cast anymore so I’m walking around now and building up strength. The international break helps so I don’t miss too many games and if all goes to plan, I can be back for that first game back after the international break.

I can’t wait, I’m desperate to get back, and I’ll see you soon.

Dan Burn.

Make sure to pick up your copy of the official matchday programme, UNITED, this weekend, featuring: