Newcastle saw an unbeaten run of four games in all competitions come to a shuddering halt on Saturday, as Hull City came from behind at St James' Park on two occasions to collect a 3-2 victory.
One positive from the game for the hosts was a Loic Remy double – his first goals for the club – but the nature of Newcastle's defending will be of concern to Alan Pardew.
"There’s a reaction required from us – full stop," he said. "Hopefully, in the next few games we can right what has been a wrong against Hull."
Newcastle's chances are somewhat dented by the fact that midfielder Yohan Cabaye limped off midway through the second half of the meeting with Hull after picking up a groin injury.
Leeds' loss to Burnley on Saturday was their second at home this season, and saw them drop into the bottom half of the Championship table.
But McDermott hopes to have Sam Byram available for the trip to St James' Park, despite the youngster struggling on his return from injury against Burnley.
"It was a difficult game for Sam on Saturday," he said. "We were asking such an awful lot of him and he hasn’t played for a long time.
"He was struggling at half time and he got to 60 minutes and we took him off. We’ll have to wait and see how he is Monday/Tuesday."
Byram's fitness is McDermott's only concern as he has an otherwise fully fit squad to choose from.
