Geordie boy Michael Carrick admits that he has never felt so down
in his career as last Saturday.
"It was one of those days where we weren't at the races," he says, "and it would have been nice to play on Wednesday to get it out of our system.
"I don't know what went wrong.
"Initially after the game, I was disappointed and down - the most I have ever been.
"But I had to look at the big picture - I'm still young, and I will have a bad game every now and then.
"You have to take it on the chin and bounce back even stronger.
"We all need to stick together, which is what we are doing, and we are all pulling in the same direction to get us up the league."
Michael does not discount joining Newcastle one day, but stresses:
"I wouldn't rule out playing for them one day but not for a while yet.
"This is another game, no different for me because it is Newcastle.
"We need three points to get ourselves a kick start to the season.
"We have to win our home games but we know they are flying at the minute.
"Robert is a good player... but we are not so bad ourselves.
"We want Trevor Sinclair, our out and out winger to get some space.
"Hopefully Paolo and Fredi can play well and we can make the final pass for them - that has been missing a bit lately.
"When you look at the flair players we have there are so many, and we will hopefully come up with a solution.
"Jermain and that have had good experience but it is nice to have Fredi back - he gives us another dimension."
Despite the league position, he is confident about the future and adds:
"The stand is looking good - you have got to build nowadays because you have to generate so much money in the Premiership."
"It was one of those days where we weren't at the races," he says, "and it would have been nice to play on Wednesday to get it out of our system.
"I don't know what went wrong.
"Initially after the game, I was disappointed and down - the most I have ever been.
"But I had to look at the big picture - I'm still young, and I will have a bad game every now and then.
"You have to take it on the chin and bounce back even stronger.
"We all need to stick together, which is what we are doing, and we are all pulling in the same direction to get us up the league."
Michael does not discount joining Newcastle one day, but stresses:
"I wouldn't rule out playing for them one day but not for a while yet.
"This is another game, no different for me because it is Newcastle.
"We need three points to get ourselves a kick start to the season.
"We have to win our home games but we know they are flying at the minute.
"Robert is a good player... but we are not so bad ourselves.
"We want Trevor Sinclair, our out and out winger to get some space.
"Hopefully Paolo and Fredi can play well and we can make the final pass for them - that has been missing a bit lately.
"When you look at the flair players we have there are so many, and we will hopefully come up with a solution.
"Jermain and that have had good experience but it is nice to have Fredi back - he gives us another dimension."
Despite the league position, he is confident about the future and adds:
"The stand is looking good - you have got to build nowadays because you have to generate so much money in the Premiership."