The Magpies were left reeling by the 4-1 defeat at the CBS Arena but have an instant chance to make amends

Newcastle United stars faced up to the music in the immediate aftermath of their 4-1 hammering at Coventry with work for Saturday night's clash with Aston Villa already under way.

The players were back at the KNOX the day after the night before, for recovery and fresh messaging as they prepare to bounce back from a second 4-1 defeat of the season.

Head coach Matthias Jaissle asked his team to be "cleaner in both boxes" in his post-game dialogue to the players and that message has been reinforced ahead of the encounter with Unai Emery's Villa. The second city arrive unbeaten in three games in all competitions but sit in 16th place in the table on five points and have the distraction of a Champions League night against Fenerbahce this evening.

Jaissle said to reporters after the game: "The overall picture is a bit different if you are realistic. If you go by the story of the match (statistics), you should not lose that match 4-1.

"But the reality is also that it happened. We need to improve, especially in the boxes.

"We need to have a better clean sheet mentality, and we need to be aware when it is time to play, and when it is a no-risk area, we need to clean that situation.

"In the offensive box, we need to be sharper and show more hunger and desire to score.

"They (Coventry) arrived in the box when they had opportunities and took them. In our case, we were not sharp in both boxes."

Jaissle is facing a big decision on whether to rip up his defensive plans and hand Fabian Schar or Dan Burn further chances to solidify the backline. But that call would involve dropping stand-in captain Malick Thiaw or Sven Botman, and Jaissle pointed to the fact that he is being told how many minutes each player can feature by his performance staff.

Amar Dedic is another star edging back to full fitness after hamstring problems, and Jaissle could name a new look back four if he gets the green light from medics. But there is calm behind the scenes from both sporting director Ross Wilson and performance chief James Bunce.

The season was always going to have bumps in the road after the exit of Eddie Howe and the emergence of a new coach in Jaissle. Toon boss Jaissle left Coventry convinced his side had gone into the game well prepared and favourites to take three points.

He said: "We're frustrated. The lads, as well. It's a feeling you don't want to have on a Monday evening after a match where you should win.

"We can only apologise to the fans who came here, they deserve a different result. We need to analyse it, clearly."

And that sober analysis began swiftly after the heavy defeat, as Newcastle go into the game with Villa with an instant chance to clamber back into the top 10.