Micah Richards believes Eddie Howe may be the victim of his own success last season after guiding Newcastle United to Premier League safety. The Magpies did not win a league game until December before an emphatic run of form in 2022 saw the Toon finish just seven points away from European football.
It was an incredible feat for the Magpies who looked certain to be relegated to the Championship, with Howe masterminding the resurgence after taking over the reins in November. Newcastle's form from the turn of the year would have had them finish in the European places, had the season started in January hypothetically.
The January transfer window played a big part in the Magpies' surge towards safety and there's plenty of ambition on Tyneside following another impressive window to date. Speaking to Sky Bet's Big Questions, Richards said: "The problem with Eddie now, he performs so well in the second half of the season, it’s killed him because everyone’s going to expect that level.
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"On the form of last season, the second half of the season, I think they’d be top three in the table so you would say it’s somewhere they aspire to be. I just think top 10 is more realistic, once they got out of the relegation zone, they could play with a little bit more freedom so I’m not sure we’re seeing a true representation of Newcastle.
"Once the season starts again, they’ve got that little bit more pressure, it depends on recruitment but realistically for Newcastle will be 10 to eight, top six will be too much for them.
"It’s going to be tough isn’t it because everyone’s going to be looking at that job. It looks a healthy job, doesn’t it. But I think top 10 will be alright and playing attractive football, you know what it was like at Newcastle the fans turned a bit but since Eddie Howe came in the fans have been terrific."
Former Newcastle United boss Graeme Souness agreed with Richards' assessment ahead of this season. He said: "You can camouflage and get misguided by the stats, we spoke about the second half of the season and how well they did.
"In the second half of the season, especially towards the end of it, you could be playing teams - we talk about small margins all the time - who are not quite at it, they got a bit of a luck and more points than they would normally out of those teams they played at the end of the season. Everyone’s bang at it at the start of the season, would they have picked up the same points against those points?
"I don’t think so but I think anywhere above 10th would be a good season for them, top six, recruitment is everything at a football club, I don’t see it this year."
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