Newcastle United came crashing back down to earth on Wednesday with a 5-2 thumping at the hands of newly promoted Leeds United at Elland Road.
After two straight Premier League wins against Crystal Palace and West Bromwich Albion the mood was positive in the Newcastle camp, but Steve Bruce's men were given a footballing lesson by Marcelo Bielsa's energetic Whites.
Bruce has been speaking to the press following the match in West Yorkshire...
"We've been punished and given bad goals away."
To Newcastle's credit, they did defend resolutely in the first half and did take the lead against Leeds before being pegged back before half-time as Patrick Bamford headed into an empty net after Karl Darlow was left helpless when Rodrigo's header came back off the crossbar.
Having fallen 2-1 behind in the second half, the Magpies responded well and exploited Leeds' weakness of defending set-pieces as Ciaran Clark headed home from Ryan Fraser's corner.
Having been caught on the counter once for 3-2 to Leeds, the fourth and fifth goals were unacceptable to concede given that they both came following Newcastle corners down the other end of the pitch.
Steve Bruce believes that his players 'gifted' Leeds their goals and did admit that this was indeed 'unacceptable'.
"We've not defended well enough."
Barring the first Leeds goal at Elland Road where there was not a lot that could have been done to prevent Bamford from scoring, there were defensive issues for the other four Leeds strikes.
Yes, Rodrigo's goal was well-worked by Bielsa's men but surely the Spanish international striker shouldn't be left unmarked inside the area.
Goal number three was too easy as Jamal Lewis was caught napping for the second game in a row as he let Stuart Dallas ghost in behind him for score into an empty net.
Goals four and five were counter attacks that could have been halted. Thankfully for the Magpies on goal number five, Jack Harrison's thunderbolt will take the headlines rather than the shabby defending in the build-up.
"If anybody that looks at the challenge they'll understand it's a clear penalty."
Bruce was aggrieved that his side weren't awarded a spot-kick in the second half when it appeared that Callum Wilson had been caught by Liam Cooper in the Leeds penalty area.
Shortly after, Newcastle man Isaac Hayden was booked for a similar challenge from behind which just added to the frustration of the Magpies and in particular their manager Bruce.
The Toon boss felt that had the penalty been converted, the game could have perhaps had a different ending as the Magpies would have taken a 2-1 lead early in the second half.
What is for certain is that VAR didn't do it's job, and this was a theme throughout the night will all controversial decisions being concluded in seconds rather than the minutes seen in recent matches such as the one at Craven Cottage on Sunday where it took what seemed like an age to eventually deny Fulham a penalty against Liverpool.
"Ryan Fraser was good."
Newcastle wide-man Ryan Fraser had just recovered from a thigh injury and he was brought back into the starting eleven on Wednesday night.
The pacy Scotland international was integral to both of Newcastle's goals getting the assist for Clark's header from a corner, whilst also putting in a dangerous cross in an attacking move which was eventually converted by Jeff Hendrick.
Fraser was surprisingly withdrawn and replaced by Miguel Almiron just before the late capitulation happened. It is understandable as Fraser had completed his first 75 minutes for a while, however his balls into the box did always look dangerous and challenging for a usually leaky Leeds defence.
This may be the only positive from an otherwise disastrous night at Elland Road for Newcastle United.
"We need to be ready for Fulham."
Newcastle's next game is against Fulham at St James' Park on Saturday night, the Magpies' final Premier League outing before Christmas.
The Cottagers have shown that they can be resilient in recent matches after constantly being criticised for the number of goals they were conceding.
Fulham come into the game on the back of two draws, one of those being against last season's champions Liverpool last weekend.
Scott Parker's side will certainly provide a stern test for Newcastle and Bruce knows that his players must be on their game if they have any chance of claiming a positive result against the West London outfit.