Eddie Howe has admitted his Newcastle United side still have so much to do before they can 'even be in the same breath' as Sir Bobby Robson's great team.
Newcastle have moved up to fifth place in the table after following up a 4-1 win at Fulham by hammering Brentford 5-1 at St James' Park on Saturday. In doing so, the Magpies scored four or more goals in back-to-back Premier League games for the first time since 2001 when Sir Bobby was in charge.
It is the latest statistic this group have matched from that era after Howe previously became the first manager since Sir Bobby to win six home games in a row in the Premier League last season. The noise at St James' certainly takes you back to those days and former Newcastle defender Nikos Dabizas previously told ChronicleLive the 'completely transformed' atmosphere is back to the 'standard it used to be in our time' under Sir Bobby.
READ MORE: Brentford show class after Newcastle rout with 'pathetic' admission despite Thomas Frank's anger
Newcastle still have an awful lot of work to do in the coming years to emulate that side on the field, though. Sir Bobby's team not only had some memorable nights in the Champions League; they even topped the Premier League table at Christmas at one point. However, unlike some of his predecessors, Howe has welcomed that challenge rather than being daunted by the club's recent history.
"We want to be compared, absolutely," he told reporters. "We want to have that link to them, but we’ve got so much still to do before, in my opinion, we can even be in the same breath.
"It’s a really good thing from our perspective because we need the confidence that we can score. That was a problem against Crystal Palace and Bournemouth. We created so many chances, but couldn’t take them. The pleasing thing today is we were very good in that respect and hopefully we’re building that side of our game that we don’t need a number of chances to score and we’re clinical when the moment comes."
READ NEXT
Newcastle owners have already found superstar, Bruno's telling choice and Eddie Howe's 4 words
Newcastle owners get dream present, Bruno Guimaraes' elite reaction and scary truth - 5 things
Newcastle United 5-1 Brentford highlights and reaction
Newcastle have Financial Fair Play aid that could save millions and find right transfer targets
Eddie Howe's brilliant response on Newcastle future after making 'resigned' Unai Emery admission
