Eddie Howe has warned there is still 'more to come' from Newcastle United after the Magpies moved up to second.
Newcastle leapfrogged champions Man City in the table following a 3-0 win against Leicester City at the King Power Stadium on Boxing Day. Goals from Chris Wood, Miguel Almiron and Joelinton put Newcastle in command with little more than half an hour on the clock as the visitors picked up from where they left off before the World Cup break.
Howe was delighted with Newcastle's start to the game, in particular, but the head coach was already analysing what his side could have done better immediately after the match. In the second half, for instance, Howe thought Newcastle could have controlled the game more with the ball - even though Leicester did not muster their first shot on target until the 82nd minute.
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Howe went as far as to say there are still aspects that Newcastle need to 'refine' to get back to the levels they hit in the memorable 1-0 win against Chelsea last month, which was the Magpies' final game before the break. After building on the Carabao Cup win against Bournemouth at Leicester, Howe wants to see his side raise their game once more when they face Leeds United on New Year's Eve and, then, league leaders Arsenal next week.
"I definitely saw progress," he told BBC Radio Newcastle. "There's still more to come. We would acknowledge that internally.
"For the players, we would say, in the second half, especially, we could control that game a bit more, but they're human beings. We were 3-0 up away from home so I get that but for us to get to where we want to be, we have to be hard on ourselves and look for the detail to improve."
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