Dan Burn is a man who has already written himself into Toon folklore in the Champions League, with that towering header in a 4-1 win over PSG an unforgettable moment and celebration.

But Wednesday night’s game will need Burn and the rest of the squad to deliver just as big a performance, despite facing an injury-struck Athletic Bilbao side and being the firm favourites for all three points.

The boy from Blyth has been just one player who’s attracted a lot of scrutiny as of late, with the 33-year-old one of many who struggled at West Ham in a dismal all-around display, but he’s since delivered a brutally honest view on Sunday’s horror show.

Burn’s honest response to Sunday’s shocker

Speaking alongside Eddie Howe ahead of Wednesday night’s game, Dan Burn addressed the need for he and his teammates to switch up their mentality after some “uncomfortable conversations” over the past 48 hours.

Bemoaning the collectively poor performance during Sunday’s loss at the London Stadium, Burn revealed that the team has taken a hard look at themselves, and suggest we need to revert back to the Newcastle side of 2022/23 that was horrible to play against:

“It comes down to mentality. We were well known a few years ago for s***housery and we have come away from that.”

“We were ugly and bullied teams, but as you progress as a team you bring in better quality players and play better football. But I think there’s always a place for that in the game, look at Arsenal.”

“The first year we were in the Champions League, we were more of an underdog and teams probably didn’t respect us as much as they should.”

“We were too nice on Sunday. It was very painful to watch back (on video) how far we were off it but it’s the only way to learn. We have needed to have uncomfortable conversations.”

Burn doesn’t fear criticism or competition

No player is 100% confident playing out of position, and Burn is no exception as a 6ft 7″ giant who previously revealed weight gain to help him become more dominant at centre-back; making his switch back to left-back an uncomfortable one.

But the England international has opened up about his switch in positions over the last few weeks, and revealed that the increase in criticism, as well as impending return of Lewis Hall and Tino Livramento, hasn’t had a negative effect on him.

“I feel it affects me less now. To be perfectly honest, I really don’t care what anybody thinks, genuinely.

“As long as my team-mates have that respect for me and know that I’m doing things well and the manager does, then everybody else’s opinion doesn’t really matter.”

“It’s good that we’ve got those two lads [Hall & Livramento] coming back, because they’re big players for us.”

With how in-form the duo of Malick Thiaw and Sven Botman are, coupled with Hall, Livramento and Kieran Trippier all being better left back options, Burn does face an uncertain future in the Newcastle defence.

Yet Burn is a big man for a big occasion, and he has little doubt that he won’t be involved in our Premier League and Champions League efforts once all his teammates are fit and available.

“I’ve built up a fair amount of credit with my performances since I’ve been here, so I’m confident I’ll continue to play.”

“Don’t get me wrong, I’m a very different style of full back to Tripps, Tino or Lewis Hall. I won’t produce the same things they do.”

“But the manager thinks I can do what he wants me to do in that position. I want to play centre half. That is my best position.”