STEVE McCLAREN demanded repeat performances to keep Newcastle United climbing away from the Premier League drop zone after telling his players: "You’ve shown what you’re capable of.”

Seven weeks before the transfer window, McClaren expects to be backed by owner Mike Ashley if he feels there are areas of the squad in need of strengthening.

Werder Bremen’s Danish defender Jannik Vestergaard is on the Magpies’ radar, while a number of strikers are being considered. Queens Park Rangers’ Charlie Austin is highest in the thinking, if the price is right for a player out of contract next summer.

But while discussions take place behind the scenes to weigh up potential signings, the short term need is for Newcastle to put further daylight between themselves and the bottom three.

They are two points clear of the relegation zone after collecting seven points from the last 12 ahead of next Saturday’s visit of high-flying Leicester City.

While Newcastle are still to hit the heights McClaren is looking for, the former England boss is satisfied that the players are starting to understand what he wants.

His team have beaten Norwich City 6-2, drawn 0-0 with Stoke City and narrowly claimed three points at Bournemouth with a one-goal victory, so he is focused on trying to roll all of the good aspects from those displays into one.

He said: “The result at Bournemouth was massively important. Five or six weeks ago, I think we would have lost that game. What impressed me is that over the last four or five weeks, we’ve shown much more of what this team is capable of doing.

“We’ve seen that in terms of possession of the ball, creating chances and scoring goals – most notably in the Norwich game – and now we’ve also seen that they can dig in when they need to.

“They’ve got spirit and fight, and they showed they could stay in the game. Early on in the season, we didn’t really see that because we were playing well in the first half and then not sustaining it, or we were dipping for parts of games.

“We’ve been trying to get them to extend what we were pleased with in parts of the Chelsea and Man City games for a much longer period. Can we do that for 95 minutes, or 96 as was the case on Saturday? That was the pleasing thing.”

McClaren thinks that, even during the 3-0 defeat at Sunderland, his players are proving they understand what he is demanding from them having spent the first few weeks struggling to get a result.

McClaren said: “We had dips against Norwich, but we came through them. Previously, we hadn’t really been able to come through them like that.

“We came through that game and won it, and then in terms of the football, I really don’t think we could have done much more against Sunderland.

“There was a patience against Stoke to continue to keep going and creating, and after the way Bournemouth started, with the intensity they displayed, we could have gone under. But that didn’t happen, and we stayed in there with a real spirit.

“That was important, and it was vital to do that and get the result. The team needed it, and think all of those fans who had travelled down there needed it too.

“There were times when we were under the cosh, but with about ten minutes to go, I think everyone had a feeling we were going to win. The closing stages were actually the least stressful part of the game.”

Newcastle are unlikely to have any of their injured players back for the visit of the Foxes, but progress is being made in the treatment room to further boost his chances of turning the club around.

McClaren said: “Steven Taylor will be fighting to play any part in December, but we’re probably looking more at the start of next year with him. Emanuel Riviere keeps having little setbacks and niggles, but we’re hoping we might get him back into training in the next week or two.

“Jack Colback is progressing really well, and we’re delighted with him so far. Rolando Aarons is still on crutches so we’re not really sure how long that will take.”

Newcastle’s home date with Manchester United in January has been brought forward 24 hours. BT Sport have chosen the game for live broadcast and will be played on Tuesday, January 12 (7.45pm).