Maybe Eddie Howe was right after all when it comes to keeping his Newcastle United targets strictly internal this season. With ferocious outside noise when it comes to where the Magpies should be looking to finish this term, the Toon boss decided it would be better not to publicly put a label on what constitutes a good season for his Premier League side.
Of course, with only one win in seven games, a section of the St James' Park faithful are beginning to get antsy. A smattering of boos rang out after the draw with Bournemouth despite the overwhelming feeling Howe is doing a good job on Tyneside.
Much has been made of where Newcastle and their new-found riches should be finishing this year, with section of the Geordie faithful hopeful of a European push. However, Newcastle boss Howe has never made the misstep of revealing his ambitions for the season out loud - and has avoided more unnecessary pressure.
Speaking before the summer break, Howe said: "I want my squad to be confident, ambitious. They have to believe in big things and we have to set targets internally. I’d rather it stay internal than external because we have to also manage the expectation around the team.
"We don’t want them to play under an unnecessary burden and an unnecessary pressure that actually hampers our performance. Creating that mix is important, but I’d much prefer to keep things in-house."
Saturday's deflating draw may have left some fans heading into the international break on a low. But even some members of Howe's first-team squad feel it may be a reality check for the fan base.
Dan Burn, one of the few boyhood Newcastle fans at the club, knows just how much supporters on Tyneside can 'get ahead of themselves' when things are going well.
“Is it a reality check? Maybe a little bit,” Burn said after the 1-1 draw. “As a fanbase, we are like that anyway. We always get ahead of ourselves. It has been like that since I was a kid.
“We have to be realistic with the way we look at the takeover and how we are building our squad. Realistically, we should still have targets in our head. Europe is pushing it a bit, but we should be pushing top ten, comfortably. Hopefully, we can reset after the international break.”
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