ALEKSANDAR MITROVIC insists he has learned a valuable lesson from the truncated start to his Newcastle United career, and is confident his first season in English football will not be blighted by a succession of disciplinary problems.

Having arrived from Anderlecht with a reputation for being hot-headed, Mitrovic picked up a yellow card within a minute of being introduced from the substitutes’ bench in the opening-weekend draw with Southampton.

He picked up another booking in the following weekend’s defeat at Swansea, and while he got through the goalless draw at Old Trafford without censure, his appearance in August’s home game with Arsenal lasted just 16 minutes before he received a straight red card following a studs-up challenge on Francis Coquelin.

A subsequent three-match suspension hit Newcastle hard, with a lack of an attacking focal point contributing to defeats to West Ham, Watford and Sheffield Wednesday, and having returned to action in last weekend’s much-improved showing against Chelsea, Mitrovic accepts he will have to clean up his act if he is not to become a liability.

“It has been a very difficult few weeks,” said the Serbia international, who moved to Tyneside in a £12m switch from Belgium’s Jupiler League. “It is always very difficult when you have to sit and watch a game but you cannot help your team-mates. I am back now though, and I have learned a lot from the last few weeks. I will never do the same thing again.

“I can control myself. I got the red card, but I wanted to take the ball, I didn’t want to kick anybody. I don’t want to get any more red cards, and I am sure I can control myself to make sure that doesn’t happen.

“I know I can play smart for the whole of a game, and I think I showed that against Chelsea. Okay, I didn’t get a goal, but I still kept on working as hard as I could.”

In the immediate aftermath of the Arsenal game, Steve McClaren implied that Mitrovic might not have been dismissed had he committed the same offence in some other European leagues.

His disciplinary issues have all related to over-zealous challenges rather than anything premeditated, and Newcastle’s coaching staff are understood to have been working one-on-one with the 20-year-old in an attempt to address his somewhat reckless tackling style.

He readily admits that certain aspects of the English game have come as a surprise to him, but is willing to adapt in order to succeed in his new surroundings.

“Maybe it would have been different in other countries, but these are the rules and I know I cannot break them,” he said. “I am sure I am not the first or last player to get a red card, but the rules are the rules here and I need to respect them.

“It’s very difficult when you get a lot of kicks from defenders, but you have to stay calm and think about how to score goals. They kick you all game, but that is my position and I have to deal with it. I need to keep working on the mental side of things, but I have shown I can deal with all of that.”

Earlier this week, assistant manager Paul Simpson described Mitrovic as integral to the system that McClaren is attempting to introduce.

His impact against Chelsea was considerable, as he offered a degree of physicality and aerial threat that had been lacking when Papiss Cisse was leading the line earlier in the season.

He will retain his place in the starting line-up for tomorrow’s game at Manchester City – almost certainly with Ayoze Perez continuing in the hole behind him – and while Newcastle will head to the Etihad Stadium still searching for their first league victory, Mitrovic insists they have nothing to fear provided the replicate the work rate and commitment they displayed last weekend.

“I think we showed against Chelsea that we can play against big teams,” he said. “We have another very difficult game coming up against Manchester City – maybe even more difficult than last weekend’s because we play away – but I think we have to go there to try to play football and win the game. We have to believe in ourselves, and if we do that, the results will come for sure.”

Former Newcastle striker Shola Ameobi has gone to Bolton on trial. He was at Crystal Palace towards the end of last season and has been looking for a club since.