Newcastle boss Eddie Howe says he has “no issue” with winger Anthony Gordon after his reaction to being substituted in last Saturday’s win at Brentford.
Howe replaced Jacob Murphy with Gordon at half-time before bringing the 22-year-old off deep into stoppage time.
Gordon reacted angrily and Howe confirmed they had since “had a conversation” about the incident.
“We want to embrace that, we love that about him, but in certain moments he needs a cool head as well,” Howe added.
“It’s about trying to explain the situation, talk through it. I’ve got no issue with him at all. He’s trained really well this week.
“His enthusiasm, aggression and motivation levels are really, really high. He’s fiercely determined to do well and achieve. It is one of his hallmarks, it’s one of his strengths.”
Asked if Gordon, who has made one start since his £45m move from Everton in January, felt the need to apologise, Howe said: “Yes, I think he did. He accepted he was overly emotional.
“Part of me understood why he acted like he did. I didn’t condone it – you don’t want to see any player react like that because, suddenly, you will have a team that looks like it doesn’t have the discipline that it needs.
“I made a decision based on Anthony going down holding his ankle, based on the fact there were seconds left on the clock, to try to do what I felt I needed to do to win the game.
“He needed to accept that and, if he had an issue, come and see me in private. That’s how I felt he should have reacted in that situation.
“But it’s a young player learning about the game and learning about us at the same time.
“He has so much talent and ability, but he needs help to get to where his career should go. Fingers crossed, we can work on that together.”
‘Nothing’s decided, we’ve got it all to prove’
The victory at Brentford followed up wins over West Ham and Manchester United during the previous week and kept Newcastle third in the Premier League, above Manchester United on goal difference.
They both have nine games remaining and asked whether his side, who visit Aston Villa on Saturday at 12:30 BST, can qualify for the Champions League, Howe said: “I think there’s a growing belief that we’re getting back to our best form after a difficult period around January time, where we were a little bit frustrated with ourselves in the Premier League.
“I think I’ve said the Wolves win [in March] was a big, big moment for us, it got us back to winning ways.
“We’ve backed that up with three really tough games over the last week. That was a big test for us mentally and physically, we came through it.
“Now we go into what I see as the last set of games this season, but a big test to come. Nothing’s decided and we’ve got it all to prove “
