No...and the sudden rise is not necessarily a good thing...its like building a pyramid upside down...the foundations are not quite where they should be...also expectations (of a certain demographic of fans, who have promptly forgotten the wilderness years under Ashley, AND of pundits/media speculators, who are airing their own view of what they think the Newcastle fans expectations are...which then become cast in stone as ipso facto truths) have been raised unrealistically. We still dont have any sort of strength in depth and, with a couple of exceptions, the players who come off the bench are not of the same level as the first choice eleven, who have now started for the last four matches. That's not sustainable, players will get tired trying to perform at such high intensity levels for so long, which will lead to injuries, possibly long term and without cover in depth, results will suffer.
A good cup run and a solid mid table, possibly 8th-10th finish, without ever flirting with relegation was probably a fair expectation for the season. Now we have a few toes in a cup final and are challenging for CL qualification....that's a world apart from where we should be.
Howe has done a fantastic job, the players are playing to a system, they are infinitely fitter than they ever were under Bruce, and most importantly, there is a togetherness and unity that bonds them together and makes them want to work for each other in very much the same way as the Darvel manager described in his pre-match talk the other night before the Aberdeen cup game.
At any rate, Newcastle are over-achieving and there will probably be a few bumps to absorb as the season progresses.
