Alan Pardew said:

"We got caught out by that one word – intensity - and I think, if you don’t do that, then in any Premier League game that is something that will make you look bad.

"But I don’t want to talk about my team’s disappointment because Wigan were brilliant today. They are as good as we have played against for seven games, of which six we won. So great credit to Roberto Martinez and his team, who were superb.

"We failed as a team, not as individuals. It is important that we go to Chelsea with an away game mentality, which we didn’t do today. When you’ve won six on the trot you can go away and think ‘we’ll win today’.

"I was pleased in the second half. Wigan’s fourth goal was absolutely special and was their key goal. I did think that if I could get them in at half-time then I knew I could tighten it up, get some intensity in our play and then we would get chances."The second half proved that. But the fourth goal really killed it for Wigan.

"If we can give Papiss Cisse a platform, in terms of us not conceding goals, then he can win us games, and he had one or two chances in the second half. But we couldn’t change the mood in Wigan’s team and it was a day that, really, was all Wigan. You have to say that."I don’t have any worries about the season tailing away or anything like that. We have three massive games coming up, and I know we will get the intensity into the team for them.

"The possibility of Champions League football has not gone away from us. People were saying if we beat Wigan we still had three tough games and perhaps that made us slightly complacent.

"We talked about it beforehand, tried to make sure it didn't happen but it's one thing to talk about it and another to match the intensity Wigan showed in the first half-hour. We just didn't get a grip in the first 30 minutes, and then they scored an absolutely special goal right on the stroke of half time to make it four.

"I don't want to take anything away from Wigan, they were brilliant but I don't think complacency is going to be a problem any more. We have now lost to Wigan and we still have three tough games. I'm expecting a reaction on Wednesday night, we know what we have to do.

"You can get a bit carried away by winning six games in a row, but it's is important to take a proper away game mentality to Chelsea on Wednesday. Maybe we didn't really bring that to Wigan, so we can't complain about the result."

United travelled to the DW Stadium on Saturday with the opportunity to lengthen a winning run of six games, extend their shutout sequence further past the six hour mark and see Papiss Cisse add his name to our roll of honour by scoring in a seventh successive game.

Facing them were a Wigan side fresh from conquests of Liverpool, Manchester United and Arsenal, as their annual escape from relegation began to gather pace.

Not even the most optimistic Latics fan - or pessimistic Magpie follower - could have foreseen what was to come in the opening half though, as the Premier League's lowest home scorers netted four without reply in 32 minutes.

After some forgettable opening exchanges, the game burst into life and the away support were left reeling by two Victor Moses goals. Further strikes then followed from Shaun Maloney and Franco Di Santo as a re-run of our White Hart Lane horror show unfolded. And like that drubbing by Spurs, everything the home side hit went in - and we were inept in the extreme right across the field.

Some hasty re-jigging of the defence at 0-2 by Alan Pardew saw an unchanged United side go to three at the back, with Davide Santon switching to the right and the shell-shocked Danny Simpson move across - not that it made much difference, as Wigan continued to find space on both wings.

However Newcastle resumed after the break with no substitutions and their more usual formation - although little improvement in energy and creativity. Too many players picked the same game to have a dip in form and the wearing of the orange kit led to unwelcome comparisons with the similarly -clad Swansea on days when their tappy lappy passing game proves to be no threat to opponents.

An improvement had to come and it arrived just after the hour mark when Papiss Cisse came to life and tested Al Habsi for the first time, before striking both bar and post as Wigan conceded ground for the first time. Hatem Ben Arfa meanwhile began to buzz around the edge of the box and fizzed one effort just wide, while a few other half-chances were spurned and some poor runs were rightly penalised by the female official.

Bowing to the inevitable though, Pardew gave some pitch time to Ryan Taylor, James Perch and Shane Ferguson as he withdrew Ben Arfa and Yohan Cabaye ahead of Wedneday's trip to Chelsea. Wigan almost had the final word though, with only a last-gasp clearance by Fabricio Coloccini late on preventing our third five-goal pasting of the season.

Perhaps an excess of recent feelgood newspaper articles and gushing interviews had collectively gone to our heads - but if this wake up call ahead of the final three tests of the season is heeded, then it's not the end of the world, although that buzzword momentum is now seemingly back in possession of Chelsea and Spurs.

The margin of the loss isn't great for our confidence but it didn't do our league standing irreparable damage, with goal difference not really now an important consideration. And as for the Champions League quest - only time will tell whether the Stoke victory proved to be our high water mark and reality is now starting to bite ever so slightly, as we get into what was always a tricky quartet of fixtures to end the season with.

Nobody seriously expected that we'd be able to maintain our rare run of form until season's end and given the multiple highpoints of the last eight months, it's difficult to maintain the immediate post-match feelings of anger, frustration and disappointment, 

What came as a particularly nasty surprise today though was the manner, margin and location of this defeat. Typical Newcastle. Having been given a timely reminder of his side's periodic defensive deficiencies, Alan Pardew then reportedly spent Sunday scouting centre halves in Holland. Given that his trip that was presumably planned before this setback, there's some reassurance that he's aware of the need to look beyond recent form and results into the composition of his squad. 

Regardless of whether we end up in a Champions League slot or not though, if we were to begin next season with the same squad as we end this one, we'd take that as a collective failure to realise our undoubted potential.