Eddie Howe wants to use the humbling 5-1 defeat at the hands of Tottenham as a positive going forward. "In hindsight, we might look back on this as a good thing It might realign our thoughts and get us back to the basics," he told reporters minutes after the Spurs loss.
Newcastle players know they need to show major improvement against Wolves on Friday evening and in their remaining fixtures between now and the end of May. The gap to the bottom three remains nine points but Sunday's crushing loss was a wake-up call for the Magpies that the job isn't done yet.
Howe will have learned some valuable lessons himself after the car crash in the capital, with drastic changes needed in the coming games. Here are three things the Newcastle boss has to ponder after the defeat.
Bruno must start
Ever since his arrival, there has been a clamour among Newcastle fans for Bruno Guimaraes to be involved from the outset in every game. But supporters knew they may not see the midfielder from the start against Tottenham after a hectic international break in South America.
The Brazilian was brought off the bench as Newcastle went 3-1 down and was unable to turn the tide. His cameo statistics do make good reading, however. Guimaraes enjoyed 36 touches and 25 passes during his 31 minutes off the bench, with a 96 per cent accuracy.
With a good few days of recovery, the January addition should be the first name on the teamsheet come Friday evening under the St. James' Park lights. Joe Willock also impressed for Newcastle during the first-half and could keep his place.
"As a group, we have to apologise to the fans for our performance today. We need your support. It's fundamental as always for the next three home matches to come. Let's play together!" Guimaraes tweeted after the defeat.
Five at the back works
Newcastle were minutes away from taking a deserved point from Chelsea last month before Kai Havertz slotted beyond Martin Dubravka at the death. Howe deployed a back five at Stamford Bridge that day, which helped nullify the Blues' attack.
Fast forward to their next visit to the capital and Howe opted to change the system and use four defenders at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. The quarter at the back couldn't cope with Harry Kane dropping deep as Heung-min Son and Dejan Kulusevski exploiting the space in behind.
Howe used five defenders in the second-half as a way of damage limitation. And the Toon boss will surely revert to that tactic from the outset when Newcastle play Liverpool and Manchester City before the end of the season.
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Game management
"We chased the game in a way you can’t against this time of team. We took risks, and didn’t execute it well enough. Against these teams, you have to get every aspect of your game right. In the second half, we didn’t," Howe said at full-time.
Newcastle's lead lasted less than two minutes on Sunday and they were 2-1 down just two minutes after the restart. By the 63rd minute it was game over at 4-1. Howe's side have held leads for longer in recent months but haven't always looked comfortable.
The 2-1 win over Brighton in March saw Newcastle 2-0 ahead within 14 minutes. But the Magpies rode their luck and could quite easily have thrown that away. They also conceded more shots on goal and had less possession than their opponents in the 1-0 home win over Aston Villa.
The back-to-back 1-0 defeats to Chelsea and Everton can both be classed as unlucky. However, Howe's side switched off at crucial moments which saw them drop important points before the international break.
The Newcastle boss and his squad will surely now be assessing how they manage games between now and the end of the season, especially if they take the lead against the likes of Wolves, Crystal Palace and Norwich in the coming weeks.
