STEVE MCCLAREN has defended his Newcastle United players and denied they are a dirty team after Saturday’s stormy 1-0 defeat at home to Arsenal.

McClaren is still waiting for his maiden Magpies victory in the Premier League and his task was made even more difficult against the Gunners when Aleksandar Mitrovic was dismissed after 16 minutes at St James’ Park.

Referee Andre Marriner handed out seven yellow cards – six of them to Newcastle players – in addition to Mitrovic’s red, which will trigger a Premier League charge for the Magpies, but McClaren does not feel that the yellow cards were warranted.

"I don't think that was a dirty game,” said McClaren, who saw his team reduced to ten men for the second time in four Premier League fixtures. “I don’t think people were going around and kicking, like the Swansea one wasn't. Football's a contact sport and you have to impose yourself, against Arsenal especially.

"There were fouls, but I thought it was an over-reaction. We've had four games and we've been down to ten men in two of them. We do have to look at that, but also the crowd - and you saw by their reaction - you can't sit and watch the opponents play.

"We continue what we're doing and keep competing. We were a little bit naive in the fact of there were plenty of times when we dribbled through past a player and we tried to stay on our feet. There was one from Chancel Mbemba in the first half, he must have rode three tackles and carried on and eventually lost the ball. I'm thinking, 'There's three fouls there!'”

McClaren’s side conceded 16 fouls, twice as many as Arsenal, who won the game courtesy of a Fabricio Coloccini own goal. And the York-born head coach, who managed Middlesbrough between 2002 and 2006, thinks that the Newcastle supporters are crying out for a physical approach to fixtures.

"I think everybody wants to see the game played that way,” said McClaren. “You can't take it away. This is what northern people are. They're working-class people and you've got to show spirit and fight and attitude and wanting to win. With 11 or 10 players, that's what we showed. There can be no change in our approach, no. We've got to be like that.

"We don't want to lose that fire. If we do, the crowd will be down to 20,000. That's what they want to see and they've seen it. We've just got to get that ice in their head in certain situations and be a bit more sensible instead. I just thought it was harsh, even the yellows.”

Newcastle were lucky not to have conceded a penalty early on when Hector Bellerin was felled by Florian Thauvin. But there was no sign of any malice from the Magpies, who had started with the same commitment at the back that had earned them a point at Old Trafford a week ago.

But following the Mitrovic dismissal, every single Magpies challenge seemed to not only earn a free-kick but also a card.

Any kind of flow to the game was stemmed by an incessant shrill of Marriner’s whistle, or the ear-piercing screams of the Arsenal players descending to the turf with either the slightest of contact or merely the suggestion of it.

Newcastle went on the attack but could not find a way through the Arsenal back line, while Walcott missed the best chance of all when he skied Krul’s rebound over the bar from point-blank range.

It was going to be a matter of time before Arsenal would find a way through, and they did so seven minutes after the restart, when Aaron Ramsey’s shot from 20 yards was parried into the path of Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain who rifled home courtesy of a cruel deflection off Coloccini.

It was a tough day for all of a Newcastle persuasion. The fans had been starved of a spectacle and the players had to work harder to keep the scores down to a respectable 1-0 considering the circumstances.

Newcastle midfielder Jack Colback accepts that Newcastle are a physical team, but has echoed his manager’s views that they are on the right side of physicality.

"Physical? I'd say yes, you've got to be physical in this league,” said Colback. “If you don't get among teams like Arsenal in this league, they will pass it round you and make it a difficult afternoon. You've got to get among them.

"But apart from the sending off, I didn't see too many malicious tackles. They did the same and you've got to disrupt teams like that."

On the sending off, Colback said: “It looked a harsh one in real time. I'm sure if you slow it down, it's going to look bad, they always do. But in real time, I think it's one of them where he's gone for the ball and maybe his reputation has come first and he's sent him off."