PIF transfer summit awaits at Newcastle United as Eddie Howe demands team of "warriors"

Eddie Howe wants to build a "team of warriors" at Newcastle United - but believes he is already on the way there if the second half at Nottingham Forest is anything to go by.

Howe's team were behind at the break but refused to take no for an answer at the City Ground with Joelinton's stand out performance there for all to see. The Brazilian even had his team-mates chanting his name after the fantastic 3-1 win. Given Joelinton is a player that Howe has turned from a questionable £40million purchase he inherited into one of the team's major stars, his 10/10 display was probably fitting on his three-year anniversary.

On a day in which Tino Livramento took one in the face, North Shields battler Sean Longstaff simply played through Ryan Yates' x-rated challenge and the physicality of Chris Wood was met with close attention, Howe admitted his team has performed like warriors.

READ MORE:Newcastle United incident sparks unseen Eddie Howe touchline reaction as Forest get lucky

READ MORE:Newcastle United shut up Nottingham Forest hype as 'worst man of the match' clear to see

United will get their breath back in the next couple of days before jetting out to Riyadh for a mid-season training camp. Newcastle are also building up to key transfer meetings in the January window with PIF eager to support Howe on the recruitment front.

When asked if finding more "warriors" to add to his squad was a key part of his transfer hunt, Howe told Chronicle Live: "You want warriors. You want players to enter the pitch to enter in the right frame of mind. You want them to play for the badge and do everything it takes to win. We have certain players with those attributes already.

"Look at Dan Burn and Fabian Schar, they were excellent in a first half that wasn't totally ours. Forest had their moments in those games and we needed our centre-backs to make sure we got in at half-time just 1-0 down. But I think going through the team in the second half we had a much better look at us. We had quality and we rolled our sleeves up."

Howe introduced £108m worth of talent on to the pitch in the second half with Harvey Barnes and Sandro Tonali both playing significant parts in the victory.

Howe said: "The attitude of the players that come on is important. You could see when Sandro and Harvey came on they really contributed to the win. You need those options from the bench. We didn't have them a lot last season as you know. So I think in part the never say die attitude is there, we are never beaten until the final whistle goes. You have to keep going and you have to find ways of getting points from all positions.

"I'd like to think we are getting better at that. We don't necessarily want to be in those positions, we want to be getting the first goal in games, the challenge is to get better."

United now head into the November international break in good spirits but arguably at the wrong time given they are on such a roll. But three wins from the last three matches in both the Carabao Cup and Premier League had transformed the narrative of the season.

Howe added: "We needed some momentum. We always say how quickly football can change, and your fortunes can turn, so getting three wins is great, and there’s been a totally different feel about the team in those three games as well, I think.

"I was really pleased today because in an away game, going 1-0 down, to come back in the way that we did is a big moment for us. We had a good look about the team.

"We trailed at half-time, and I thought we needed to be more direct with our attacking, and I thought we were much better with that in the second half. I thought we deservedly scored the goals we did, because we were well on top."