United are silencing the doubters as they target a place in the top six
GOOD FORM DEFIES TELLY CRITICS
NEWCASTLE United could hit dizzy heights tomorrow night and find themselves in the Premier League’s top six if they beat Stoke City at St James’ Park.
Staying there would be another matter, of course, but it is an unexpected discussion after an underwhelming summer in the transfer market.
Few would have predicted such talk after opening Premier League defeats against Tottenham Hotspur and Huddersfield Town.
True, it is still very much early days this season and Newcastle have tough fixtures to come - but even then this was not on the script for a lot of football pundits.
Doom and gloom is predicted regularly by the likes of Paul Merson and Mark Lawrenson for the Magpies.
However, despite issues during the transfer window, Rafa Benitez appears to have settled the players down and by tomorrow night the club could be on their best winning run in the Premier League since 2014.
Nobody on Tyneside would get carried away if Newcastle notched another three points against Stoke but the Premier League table on Match of the Day could certainly be a sight for sore eyes for Geordie fans.
With a bit of luck, Benitez and his players will get the praise they deserve over the weekend because if Newcastle do have a comfortable season it is because they are punching above their weight.
Behind the scenes, Benitez knows he is working with a relatively young team at the moment and one of the issues is the lack of leaders and senior men. Skipper Jamaal Lascelles is still just 23 while a clutch of first-team regulars are under the age of 25, leaving Benitez to guide the current group of players carefully through the Premier League.
The first aim of the United squad this season is to reach 40 points, the figure many deem as the safety total to remain in the Premier League.
Who knows? With a home game against Stoke and then a fixture at Brighton, United could have more than a quarter of that target in the bag before the home game with Liverpool on October 1 ahead of the next international break.
The players will always talk about taking it “one game at a time” but going into the next break with their points tally in the double figures bracket would not only be a huge boost for Benitez and Newcastle but it would also silence a lot of the critics out there.
First things first, though, and it will not be easy against Mark Hughes’ Stoke side after they held their own against table-toppers Manchester United last weekend.
After the game, Hughes stated Stoke were a “top 10” side these days and that is something that Newcastle would love to be by the end of the season.
Unlike pundits such as Craig Bel-
lamy and Tim Sherwood – who claimed the Toon Army expect the Champions League this year – fans are realistic about what can be achieved on Tyneside these days.
While Kevin Keegan may have warned Alex Ferguson that the Magpies were after the Premier League title back in 1993, United’s modern-day aims are a lot more modest.
Finishing mid-table is possible for Newcastle this season but they have to prove they can stand up to the likes of Stoke.
This weekend’s fixture will be a good test to see how capable Newcastle are at keeping some of those critics nice and quiet.