Newcastle United defender Paul Dummett insists he was not criticising the coaching staff when he said things weren't right in the warm-up against Norwich.
The Magpies slumped to a disappointing 3-1 defeat at Carrow Road, with Teemu Pukki grabbing a hat-trick before Jonjo Shelvey's late consolation goal.
Geordie defender Dummett gave an honest assessment of the situation after the game, saying: “We were nowhere near good enough and it was a disappointing afternoon with and without the ball.”
However, his comments about things not being right during the warm-up was picked up by some pundits, with Chris Sutton saying on the BBC's Football Daily Podcast: "What about a little bit of self-responsibility? Why come out publicly and say that? I think that's a disgrace, I really, really do."
However, Dummett insists he was only referring to the Magpies players, tweeting: "Just to clarify my comment on the warm up in my post match interview, it was about us as players and as a team, not the coaching staff.
"As I said in the interview, we know it wasn’t good enough from the first whistle. We need to stick together and improve - and we will."
Steve Bruce is spending the week assessing tactics ahead of United's trip to take on Tottenham this weekend.
The new Magpies boss is hoping to have No 9 Joelinton available, along with French forward Allan Saint-Maximin.
