NEWCASTLE: Eddie Howe admits he’s flattered to be mentioned in the same breath as Sir Alex Ferguson by Newcastle United’s owners — although he’s not getting carried away by the early comparisons.
Co-owner Mehrdad Ghodoussi recently claimed in an interview with the Athletic that he wanted Howe to emulate the Manchester United legend at St. James’ Park and build a Premier League dynasty on Tyneside.
And while Howe has welcomed the backing from PCP Capital Partners’ Ghodoussi, he’s also keen to not look too far into the future, especially with the Magpies’ immediate focus on remaining in the top flight.
“I am taking it the opposite way — it is very small steps,” he said of Ghodoussi’s words. “The focus has to be on getting enough points to stay in the division. I am not looking at anything beyond that. That doesn’t mean I am not looking to the future of this football club.”
“I appreciate the words but it is about the next game for me.”
A win against Brighton & Hove Albion would go some way to underlining their relegation fight credentials.
Three points has the potential to take Newcastle seven points clear of the dropzone, depending on results elsewhere.
It would also improve their unbeaten run to eight games, a sequence that stretches all the way back to their last defeat — by Manchester City — on Dec. 19.
And while the gloom has lifted at Newcastle recently, replaced by Howe-driven hope and belief, the head coach knows his side are definitely not out of the woods just yet.
“The relegation picture will go right to the wire,” said Howe. “We don’t want to be involved in that but our next run of games will dictate what happens to us.”
“We have to remain very focussed and not get carried away with our successes,” the coach said. “We have a very good dressing room and I was really impressed with how the team has trained and done what we’ve asked them to do.”
“We have a very honest set of professionals who want to do a good job for the football club. Confidence has lifted and now we have some very good players, as you see.
“But confidence can change and we have to guard against complacency and look to improve daily.”
Week-after-week Newcastle fans are wondering when club record signing Bruno Guimaraes will get a chance to make his first start.
It didn’t come down in West London last weekend, however the Brazilian international did get significantly more minutes than he’d been afforded in his previous three Magpies appearances.
In that half an hour at Brentford, Guimaraes impressed with his passing and willingness to keep the ball moving. Having 41 touches and making 31 passes in total ranked Bruno ahead of eight of Brentford’s outfield players statistically, despite many of that group completing the full 90 minutes.
As impressive as that was, it remains unlikely to be enough to displace Joelinton, Joe Willock and Jonjo Shelvey in the Newcastle midfield against the Seagulls this weekend.
When asked about Guimaraes’ show, Howe said: “Very good. We wanted to bring him on to get more control of the ball with the extra man and see out the last passage of that game.
“I think Bruno did that in the first 15 to 20 minutes. He showed his technical ability is second to none and his eye for a pass is there,” he said. “I was really pleased with him.”