After recent setbacks for his Newcastle team, who are now only competing on two fronts after losing the League Cup and the Champions League, Eddie Howe has advised patience.
The Magpies are five points behind fourth-place Manchester City in the Premier League and will visit struggling Luton on Saturday. Next month, they will travel to Sunderland for an FA Cup third-round match.
However, Howe claimed he didn’t feel pressed for time.
“There has never been that pressure of this season or next season in terms of positions in the league and expectations to win competitions, according to my conversations with everyone connected to the football club here and the running of the football club,” he stated on Friday.
All of that originates from within us.
“There is ambition, of course, but I believe there is a distinction between an ambition and a target that is on your back.”
Two years after the club was acquired by a group led by Saudi Arabia, the Newcastle manager acknowledged that “everyone” expected to see tangible progress.
In his first season in charge, Howe guided Newcastle to safety in the Premier League, and the Magpies’ top four finish last year earned them a spot in the Champions League.
He stated, “Everyone here wants to see growth.” “They want to see the team grow and progress, and in the long run, those desires will undoubtedly translate into concrete goals and tasks that need to be completed.
However, at this particular moment, we’re just trying to build and have done so quite quickly because we started from such a low base.
“In my opinion, we should accelerate that pace; everything needs to happen tomorrow, but we also need to acknowledge where we are right now.”