Steve McClaren reflects on sorry Newcastle's 'self-inflicted' defeat to Chelsea

Chelsea ran out 5-1 winners this evening thanks to two goals from Pedro and strikes from Diego Costa, Willian and Bertrand Traore.

And the result saw McClaren's side drop back into the Premier League's relegation zone ahead of a 18-day gap between fixtures.

Chelsea took advantage of a shockingly bad start from Newcastle to go 3-0 up inside the first 17 minutes.

And head coach McClaren said: “It’s very simple – games can be won in the first 20 minutes.

"We did that last week (against West Bromwich Albion), and won the game in the first 20 minutes. This week we lost it in the first 20.

"We were three down by that stage, and the majority of the opportunities and the goals were self-inflicted in terms of not dealing with the ball and not dealing with the way they pressed.

"Chelsea worked it perfectly, and you could see they wanted to go for it and have the game won by half-time.

"It’s very difficult to come back from being 3-0 down after 20 minutes.

"You have decide whether you’re going to go for it or not, and I think at half-time we said we’d for it in the first ten or 15 minutes, which we did.

"Then the fourth goal really killed us, but that’s what can happen when you come here.

"We’ll reflect on that, and know that the way we start games away from home has to be better."