STEVE McCLAREN has urged match officials to give Aleksandar Mitrovic a chance, or run the risk of ruining a big part of the game that would also see the likes of Diego Costa become weaker players.

Mitrovic is already a marked man after picking up two cautions in his two appearances as a substitute in the Premier League for the Magpies.

The £12m buy from Anderlecht was booked just 91 seconds after coming off the bench at Swansea City with eight minutes remaining of Saturday’s 2-0 defeat at the Liberty Stadium.

That was actually an improvement on his debut when he was issued with a yellow card 11 seconds after he entered the field of play against Southampton six days earlier.

The two bookings followed after McClaren had earlier suggested he had bought a player with a “bit of the devil” in his play.

But the Newcastle head coach is starting to worry that Mitrovic is in danger of being singled out after he was cautioned for leaving his foot in late on the Swans’ full-back Neil Taylor, a former Newcastle target.

McClaren believes football’s rule makers should tread carefully when they hand out bookings for committed challenges or they could ruin a significant part of the sport.

“I’ve had a lot of these type of players during my career and we should not take that aggression, that emotion away from the game,” said McClaren. “Just don’t do it. For example, Diego Costa at Chelsea ... it’s the same.

“I’ve worked with those players and to curb it you take 50 per cent of their game away. You have to live with them. Mitrovic is a young man but he needs to control that and be smart with referees and opponents. But he’s just showing his enthusiasm, his will to win and wanting to play.

“It’s only two games he has been with us. The nature of the game is changing. He has to adapt and keep his emotions under control. We all have to do that. We learned that here.

“There’s no point looking at the reasons, he did what he did. I think we’ve just got to learn to be a little bit smarter in our play.”

McClaren was speaking more generally about the need to be more streetwise because he had just witnessed Newcastle face a confident Swansea team with ten men for more than half of the game.

Daryl Janmaat, who could have been booked earlier, was yellow carded for a strong challenge on the lively winger Jefferson Montero and then he stupidly pulled the same player’s shirt four minutes from half-time despite being deep in the home side’s half.

Now Newcastle have the tough task of trying to find a first win in three Premier League games when they head for Manchester United this Saturday, without the suspended Janmaat.

“We’ve only been here a short time,” said McClaren. “We’ve only had two real games and we’ve learned nothing here at Swansea, really. We played against a team for 55 minutes with ten men, so I don’t see how you can judge our team.

“Last week you could, but this week, nothing. There weren’t any lessons learned this week. Last week there were a thousand lessons. That’s what disappoints me and frustrates me. The game was so long with ten men, draining.

“Every game is tough. But I don’t think you can judge us until we are 12 games in. Last week was very encouraging, this week I thought the first 40 minutes we recovered well after a bright start. After that, nothing. So we move on. Next week we have a big test of character at Old Trafford.”

Newcastle have spent more than £30m so far this summer on Mitrovic, Georginio Wijnaldum and Chancel Mbemba, so there is no rush to go out and pay over the odds for other targets.

But McClaren is still looking for further additions before the transfer window closes on September 1 and Marseille’s attacking £12m-rated talent Florian Thauvin is reportedly keen to head to St James’ Park.

He said: “We’ve never finished until the window closes. Who knows? At the moment we’ve just signed three so we’ve settled down. We then need to look at the first few games.

“Any good manager will tell you he’s always looking for players. We’d love one or two more but they’ve got to be the right ones and if they are, I’m sure we’ll be in the market for them. At the moment it’s Manchester United next week.”

Newcastle hope that midfielder Moussa Sissoko will be available to play next week. The Frenchman had to go off with a groin problem and results of a scan will be examined today.