Eddie Howe has relayed the message he gave his players in the dressing room after the 5-1 defeat at Tottenham Hotspur at the weekend. Emphasis has already turned to Friday night's encounter with Wolverhampton Wanderers at St James' Park but Howe is keen to keep one of the season's toughest days in some type of context.
After a second half collapse, the mood was understandably down in the dressing room after the game but Howe opted not to rip into his players. Instead, he reminded them of the standards he set on his arrival in November and asked for focus on the season-defining series of home matches back on Tyneside this week.
Howe told Chronicle Live: "I think that is an important thing for me (not to get too low) and for everybody connected with the club. These results can happen against the quality of the opposition we were playing.
READ MORE: Newcastle United news LIVE: Kalvin Phillips links and Elliot Anderson praise
"That's not to say my expectations of the team aren't high, they are. I have made that clear to the players. I don't think there is any point going hard or negative in any direction. I think we have to focus on what's to come."
Newcastle will take on a Wolves side that have won three games from four in the Premier League with only a remarkable lapse in concentration against Leeds, in which they threw away a 2-0 lead, blotting their copybook.
But for United they know that a fired up St James' can help them take a big stride to safety. The prize on Friday night? A chance to establish a 12-point lead over the bottom three, at least for a day.
Howe went on: "What's to come is an absolute key week ahead. "As you say, we are in a position we maybe didn't expect to be in. Hopefully, if there is a positive to come that this is just a little jolt and a reminder that we can't get ahead of ourselves at all.
"We can't think we are better than we are at this current moment. We have to fight and battle for every point and earn those points, they won't be given to us."
