DAN BURN admits the opening month of the season has provided something of a “reality check” to Newcastle United as the club looks to establish itself in the upper echelons of the Premier League.

The Magpies have only lost one of their opening seven league matches, but after Saturday’s frustrating draw against Bournemouth, their only victory remains their opening-day success against a Nottingham Forest side currently sitting in 19th position.

There have been signs of progress this season, most notably in the way in which Newcastle are now controlling matches and dominating possession, but the more optimistic pre-season ambitions of breaking into Europe or challenging for a place in the top six are gradually being scaled back.

“Is it a reality check? Maybe a little bit,” said Blyth-born Burn, who grew up as a boyhood Newcastle fan. “As a fanbase, we are like that anyway. We always get ahead of ourselves. It has been like that since I was a kid.

“We have to be realistic with the way we look at the takeover and how we are building our squad. Realistically, we should still have targets in our head. Europe is pushing it a bit, but we should be pushing top ten, comfortably. Hopefully, we can reset after the international break.”

Newcastle were frustrated by Bournemouth’s defensively-minded approach at the weekend, with the Cherries effectively playing with a back six at times, such was the positioning of their two defensive midfielders.

Increasingly, opposition sides are adopting a conservative approach when they visit St James’ Park, something Eddie Howe and his players are going to have to get used to and start combating more effectively.

“It was hard to break them down when they put everyone behind the ball, and we will come across that a lot this season,” said Burn, who got the nod to start Saturday’s game in the back four ahead of summer signing Sven Botman. “Teams are trying to take the sting out of it and dampen the crowd down – it feels like two points lost.

“It’s a change of mentality, and we have to find ways of breaking them down. We need to string a run together. Not getting beaten is good mentality wise, but we might look back (with regret) at the end of the season at these games when we could have picked up more points.”