Fabian Schar is determined to get the points to secure Newcastle United's Premier League status 'as fast as possible' and concedes the 1-0 defeat to Crystal Palace was a missed opportunity to do so.
The Switzerland international returned to the starting XI after missing the Bournemouth and Arsenal games through suspension, having collected 10 yellow cards this season.
His return was a welcome one and Schar looked right at home alongside Florian Lejeune and Jamaal Lascelles.
But despite United peppering the Palace goal - they had 18 attempts with five on target - it was a Luka Milivojevic penalty nine minutes from time that was the difference.
“It’s always disappointing when you a lose a game, and especially when you lose it in the way we lost this one. We conceded a stupid penalty, and they scored from that. We had the better chances so it is frustrating," he said.
“We know we have to score when we have chances, but then on the other side, we also knew how dangerous they are on the counter-attack. We had to find the balance. At the end they had two or three counter-attacks, but we did fairly well from our side and that’s why the final result was such a disappointment.
“We need some more points to get safe, and we want to get them as fast as possible. The last game was a big chance, especially when we were playing at home after winning our five previous home games. We wanted to keep that run going, but we couldn’t do it. We have to forget the game now and look forward.
“All the teams in this league are so competitive, so every day has to be a good day for you to win games. It’s always difficult. There are no easy games – the Premier League is really hard and we know that. It is the same for a lot of the teams."
United travel down to King Power Stadium to take on Leicester City on Friday - a fixture they won 2-1 last season - knowing that a win would all but secure their top-flight place for 2019-20.
But it's not only relegation woes that Schar has had to deal with but the fall-out to the concussion he suffered while away on international duty with Switzerland last month.
The defender collided with Georgia's Jemal Tabidze after 24 minutes - and despite being out cold, continued for rest of the game.
The decision to allow Schar to continue provoked a debate over the rules about concussion, especially given the Georgian striker Jano Ananidze had to rush to stop Schar from swallowing his own tounge.
Schar returned to Tyneside and went through several tests to check his condition, and was given the all clear.
“I’m good," Schar replied when asked how he felt.
"I had some games in the international break. The thing happened with the head, but everything is fine. I trained the whole week with the team in the build-up to the last game (Palace) and I’m feeling really good.
“For me, I don’t care what has been said. People have written and said a lot of stuff, but a lot of it is not true.
"There was too much polemic about this. It looked bad at the moment it happened, but in the end I was fine and it was not too bad at all. I feel really good and it hasn’t affected me at all.
"I have no injury now, so hopefully we can stop talking about this."
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