Dan Byrne: Newcastle needs to be more “ugly” like Arsenal

Newcastle United defender Dan Burn said his side needed to be “uglier” in their game and take inspiration from league leaders Arsenal.

Eddie Howe’s side suffered a 3-1 Premier League defeat to West Ham at the London Stadium on Sunday, as the struggling Hammers recorded their first home win in nearly nine months.

Newcastle have not won a league match away from home since last April, and Byrne says his side’s problems on the road have been a huge “frustration”.

“It’s about mentality,” he said. “The manager will look at that and I’m sure he will come up with a plan on what we can do better and how we can win games, and maybe be a little bit uglier with things.”

“We’ve been known for a few years – I won’t say a word but ‘home thing’ – and a lot of the things that have come have pushed us away from that.

“But if you leave home, sometimes it’s important not to get beaten, to pick up points and keep going. As long as you win your home games and don’t get beaten, that’s better, but we didn’t do that well enough.”

Newcastle have won their past four home matches in all competitions and will be favorites when they face Athletic Club in the Champions League at St James’ Park on Wednesday.

But Byrne warned that the subsequent trip to Brentford on Sunday is “where you need to make your money”.

He added: “In the first year we participated in the Champions League, we were less fortunate and the teams probably did not respect us as much as they should.”

“We can come up against ugly, bullying teams, and that was the way we went about it, but as you progress and want to move forward, you get away from that because you bring in better quality players and you play better football. But there is always a place for that in the game.

“Arsenal are very good at doing that, but they play very good football and are top of the league.

“It’s important to mix things up but sometimes, especially on Sunday, we were a bit soft when we could have been a bit tighter and a bit more flexible.”