Howe’s players turned in their worst performance of the season as they were beaten 4-0 at the Etihad at the weekend, with the defeat having seen them slip to seventh place in the table, two points adrift of fifth-placed Bournemouth.
Newcastle’s next two matches pit them against two of the sides sitting above them in the table, with third-placed Nottingham Forest visiting St James’ Park on Sunday before the Magpies head to Anfield to take on table-toppers Liverpool on the following Wednesday night.
Repeat last weekend’s Etihad no-show, and there is every chance Newcastle will lose both games, a scenario that would badly damage their hopes of securing a return to the Champions League.
“That’s what I have to try to create from the (Man City) game, that it’s a positive moment because we learn a lot from it,” said Howe. “We’ve learned a lot of what we don’t want to do, in terms of a game.
“That’s what we delivered, a lot of what we don’t want – second best in duels, second best physically, not ourselves with the ball, not looking a threat. We’ve had games like this before this season and have always responded pretty well. We have to do that again.”
When Newcastle lost at Fulham in September, they followed up with a creditable home draw against Manchester City. When they were beaten at Stamford Bridge in October, they extracted revenge just three days later by dumping Chelsea out of the Carabao Cup.
December’s 4-2 defeat at Brentford was followed by a 4-0 thrashing of Leicester City, so Howe’s players have displayed a welcome ability to bounce back from adversity this season.
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The problem is that inconsistency remains an issue, and for all that his side embarked on a nine-game winning run either side of Christmas, Howe accepts they continue to throw in the kind of occasional below-par display that has repeatedly held them back this term.
“The inconsistency is a worry,” said the Magpies boss. “And has sort of been there all season. Now, we’re off the back of winning a lot of games so I don’t want to overreact. We’ve won 12 of our last 15, but still, just looking at the last group of games, we’ve not been what we want to be.
“You’re going to go on periods of winning games and losing games, it’s going to happen throughout the season. The challenge is to mirror the form we showed as couple of months ago where we were fearless in our approach and the players looked motivated consistently. We had a really good winning mentality to our performances, even when we didn’t play well, and that was only very recently.”
Newcastle’s winning run featured victories over Manchester United, Tottenham, Aston Villa and Arsenal, so Howe’s players have displayed an ability to win against some of the biggest teams in the division.
They were close to full strength in all of those games, and Howe feels the absence of Sven Botman and Joelinton was a factor in Saturday’s defeat to Manchester City.
Botman has been nursing a knee problem, but should be available to face Nottingham Forest. Joelinton has missed the last three games with a knee issue of his own, and while he is unlikely to be able to feature at the weekend, the Brazilian is making positive progress as he continues his recovery.
“Confidence is a key thing, and availability of key players is a key thing,” said Howe. “We missed Joelinton’s duel-winning ability and Sven Botman’s physical presence. All these things matter.”
