'What I needed': Dan Burn now says what he's enjoyed about his last few games for Newcastle

Dan Burn has been made to be a bit of a scapegoat by Newcastle United fans this season after his lack of pace was exposed by several clubs.

Whether rightly or wrongly, the fingers of blame were pointing in the direction of Newcastle's giant defender after a run of games where opposition teams exploited Dan Burn's lack of pace by putting him up against their paciest wingers, and it was a tactic that kept getting results for our opponents.

Some fans chose to blame the player, others pointed the finger at Eddie Howe for continuing to play him there. Whatever the reality, the point is that it was a bad run of games for Dan Burn.

However, the Blyth-born defender has acknowledged that in his latest interview with NUFC TV on YouTube saying that he'd maybe pushed himself to come back too soon after a bad back injury.

Dan Burn has enjoyed returning to his familiar position

Burn was asked if it annoyed him that he was being singled out despite just coming back from injury.

"People only see what they see on Saturday, they don't see the work that gets put in during the week and what people put into it to be ready for Saturday, so if you don't perform to a level that people expect then, yeah, you're always under criticism. At the end of the day, I put myself into that position. If I didn't feel I was ready then that was my call to make.

"I went through a spell where I had a few bad games, admittedly against very fast players. If we were to go again I'd still back myself against those players. I think it was one of those things that every time I made a mistake we conceded a big chance or a goal and that's the way it looks sometimes that it creates a bit of a narrative that people get on."

We'll be seeing more of Dan Burn at centre-back

Lately, though, Dan Burn has been shifted into his more familiar centre-back role and he has been thriving again with the defender saying it's probably what he needed.

"I have enjoyed playing centre-back the last few games. It's probably what I needed a little bit."

It's great to see the big man doing well again and it now looks like he'll see out the rest of the season in his preferred centre-back role with Sven Botman and Jamaal Lascelles out for the season.