Anthony Gordon won and converted a penalty to earn a draw for Newcastle against Manchester City, with relieved Howe saying the Magpies had their “bite back” after a few under-par performances.
Defeat at Fulham last week saw Gordon criticised, but a massive flag was unveiled by supporters collective Wor Flags before the game.
Howe said as cited by Sports Central: “Brilliant from Wor Flags, from everyone. Anthony needed a bit of love. I can’t love the players all the time. Sometimes I have to give them the opposite to get performances “We ultimately love them all and protect them all, Anthony gets that from what he has done since coming here. You could see his effort and commitment today and it as a great response from Anthony. “You need steely determination to beat the opponent, win tackles and duels. We had a bite to us which was great to see. Anthony is well capable of doing the (striker) role. The highlight for me was his energy and his running. He led the line really well and I’m really pleased that he got his goal. Well deserved.
He added: “Last week in training, it was the most we had reviewed the game with the players. They digested it and we analysed it with a view to producing better. “Could we go toe to toe with City? That’s the mindset, we can be what we want to be. We are controlling what we deliver. There can be no obstacle on what we think internally. "It's difficult to define how people react in certain situations. There's a fear factor, you know you have to perform well or it could be very difficult. The challenge for us is to find that consistency and that's what we are working towards."
Newcastle face Wimbledon on Tuesday in the Carabao Cup and striker Alexander Isak will be missing with a broken toe again. Howe confirmed: “Definitely not available on Tuesday, Let’s see how he looks before Everton, and before the international break too. We will make decisions. It is not serious but it's a niggle which is preventing him.”
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