MANCHESTER -- Newcastle head coach Steve McClaren told his team to toughen up and questioned their desire after the 6-1 defeat at Manchester City.
The former England manager was upset that City scored five times in the space of 13 second-half minutes as Newcastle, who had taken the lead through Aleksandar Mitrovic, returned to the bottom of the Premier League.
And while McClaren praised Sergio Aguero, who scored five of City's six goals, he felt defensive errors contributed to the thrashing.
"In the second half we got done by mistakes by ourselves and Aguero's world-class finishing, which he is capable of doing to any team," he said at a news conference.
Newcastle's collapse brought their team spirit and resolve into question and McClaren said: "It is bound to be an issue because we conceded five goals in 13 minutes.
"We have shown what our strengths are and what our weaknesses are. This result showed we have to toughen up. The goals were disappointing from our point of view, and we caused our own problems."
#INSERT type:image caption:McClaren feels much will depend on Newcastle's reaction to their heavy defeat. END#
McClaren was critical of the officials for disallowing a goal from striker Mitrovic, who had already opened his Newcastle account, that would have put the visitors 2-0 up in the first half.
"That was onside so it could have been a different story," he said.
And he was pleased with the way Newcastle, who drew 2-2 with Chelsea in their previous game, had started, saying: "We carried on the level of performance from last week. We came here to win.
"We were bold in our 4-4-2, and in that first half we really shook Manchester City. In the first half we looked a very good Premier League team. In the second, we didn't. There is a team in there that needs to produce that for 90 minutes."
Newcastle have only taken three points from their first eight league games and McClaren said: "It is tough but we knew it would be. It needs patience from us to turn it around. We will see how everyone in the club reacts.
"A few years ago [as Middlesbrough manager] I went to Arsenal and got beat 7-0 in January and in May I was in a UEFA Cup final. It depends on the reaction in the dressing room.
"Against Chelsea and City in the first half we were very good but we let ourselves down in that 13-minute spell."