Newcastle's first win under Eddie Howe will instantly lift mental block

Following the high-profile takeover of Newcastle United, Eddie Howe's appointment as manager felt a little surprising given some of the flashier names they had been linked to.

However, his team are already showing tactical improvements, which coupled with the confidence derived from their first win of the season this weekend, should hold them in good stead going forward.

In truth, Howe could easily have won three of the four games he has overseen at Newcastle; but he has been pretty unlucky.

Versus Brentford, if not for a goalkeeper error, an own goal and an Ivan Toney goal line clearance, the Magpies would have secured all three points.

HAVE YOUR SAY! Can Eddie Howe guide Newcastle to survival? Comment below

An expected 2-0 loss away to Arsenal followed and then a 1-1 draw versus Norwich came after that.

The Norwich result at a glance looks poor, but when you consider Newcastle had Ciaran Clarke sent off in the 9th minute, you realise just how impressive grinding out that result was.

Although the Magpies hadn't won in the 15 games prior to Saturday, it wasn't all doom and gloom as it may have appeared.

During that spell, Newcastle lost just seven games and managed to draw eight. They were far from whipping boys.

That shows that Howe's job isn't to completely overhaul Newcastle in the short term, but instead to do enough tweaking to convert those draws to wins and keep Newcastle up.

The Burnley result showed how those tweaks should bear fruit.

Defensively, after going in front, Howe switched his back four to a back five to see out the result and secure his sides first clean sheet in the Premier League this season.

Attacking wise, he has also been tinkering as Newcastle have averaged 15 shots-per-game with five on target, compared with just 11 shots-per-game with three on target prior to his arrival.

Recording their first win of the season won't just make the Premier League table look better for them, it will also dramatically improve the squad's mentality.

During my time representing England, we went through similar spells where we couldn't find a win.

Despite lining up for games where we knew we were the better side; during close matches you find yourself in a psychological slump where you lose the belief that you will either kick on to get a win the game or hold on to prevent a draw or loss.

Bad results begin to snowball, pressure then mounts, and it is an extremely tough cycle to break. With a win though, the mental block seems to instantly lift.

The relief that came with Saturday's victory was evident by the scenes at St James' Park come full time.

Even the usually subdued Howe allowed himself a fist pump - showing he realised the significance of snapping the bad run.

Eddie Howe's appointment may not have initiated the instantaneous so called "new manager bounce" that Aston Villa with Steven Gerrard have enjoyed, but he clearly has Newcastle headed in the right direction.

With games against Leicester City, Liverpool, Manchester City and Manchester United on the horizon, his side will have to work twice as hard if they are going to get anything from those fixtures.

The Premier League table looks completely different to how it did a couple of weeks ago. Runaway leaders, Chelsea, have dropped back into the pack and Norwich, who looked doomed, have shown signs of life.

It looks like we are in for an exciting Christmas period with intense football across the board!