FABRICIO COLOCCINI claims a change in mental outlook helped Newcastle United secure the comeback win over Spurs that enabled them to clamber out of the Premier League’s bottom three at the weekend.

The Magpies scored two goals in the final 16 minutes as they transformed a one-goal deficit at White Hart Lane into the victory that lifted them into 15th position ahead of Saturday’s home game with basement boys Aston Villa.

Even just a couple of weeks ago, it was hard to see Newcastle’s players summoning the spirit required to limit the damage inflicted by Tottenham’s attackers and successfully turn things around in order to record a fourth league win of the season.

However, after a series of clear-the-air discussions in the wake of last month’s heavy defeat at Crystal Palace, and with Steve McClaren having encouraged Newcastle’s senior players to take more responsibility for the club’s position, Coloccini can sense a new-found resolve that was a key factor in Sunday’s comeback.

“I think what happened at the end of the game was because we have changed our mentality,” said the Magpies skipper, whose own form has improved markedly in the last two games. “Normally, when we are losing the games, we have lost our heads.

“Now, I think we stay in the game, and we found a goal. Then, we trusted in ourselves that we could win the game, and we got ourselves the three points.

“It always helps when you get good results, and we have been working hard every week to try to do that. We couldn’t get the results before, but now they are coming and we’re very happy about that.

“We need to stay at this same level now and try to play at our best like we did against Liverpool and Spurs. We have to focus and try to find more wins, especially over the Christmas period.”

That Christmas period will see Newcastle take on Aston Villa, Everton, West Brom and Arsenal in the space of 14 days, and while McClaren will be understandably reluctant to make too many changes to his current line-up, he will inevitably have to chop and change to a certain degree over the festive programme.

There is every chance Saturday’s starting line-up will be unchanged from the team that kicked off against Spurs, but both Aleksandar Mitrovic and Ayoze Perez will be champing at the bit after their heroics from the substitutes’ bench at the weekend.

The likes of Kevin Mbabu, Yoan Gouffran and Florian Thauvin could also be pressed into action over the course of the next two weeks – along with Jamaal Lascelles and Cheick Tiote who have returned to light training – and Coloccini is urging all those currently on the periphery of things to use this weekend’s events as an example of how to conduct themselves.

“Watching that (Mitrovic and Perez’s goals) helps everybody else get motivated,” he said. “Every week, the staff are speaking with all the players and telling them they have to keep working because they will get a chance.

“Mitro and Ayoze are still working very hard during the week, and that’s why I think we got the result – because they came on, showed their quality and scored.”

This weekend’s game pits Newcastle against an Aston Villa side that have not won in the league since the opening day of the season.

Remi Garde, who was strongly touted as a potential Magpies boss before McClaren was appointed, is still searching for his first Premier League win, and whereas Newcastle have started the last two games as underdogs, they will have to deal with the pressure of being favourites at the weekend.

“We’re going to stay with our feet on the floor and keep working,” said Coloccini. “We know that Aston Villa have to fight to get out of the relegation zone soon. But we want to keep going in this way as well, to move away from there and further up the table.”