Newcastle United’s current form is a testament to one year of Eddie Howe

It feels wrong to complain about the way Newcastle are playing at the moment. After all, they’ve won four in a row in the league, progressed through a tricky looking Carabao Cup tie and sit pretty in third place in the table.

And yet, they still haven’t hit top gear. This was none more evident than the clash at St Mary’s on Sunday where, looking solely at the statistics from the game, United seemingly won a close contest.

But that couldn’t be further from the truth with Newcastle rarely looking like relinquishing control of proceedings from the moment Miguel Almiron put them ahead. There were some scares of course, but Newcastle managed these expertly and were able to leave the south coast with three points in the bag.

Those in attendance at St Mary’s - and the many watching at home - would have seen a confident performance from the Magpies, one built on the whole squad knowing their roles and what is required from them in Eddie Howe’s current system. It sounds trite to say that Newcastle’s current run of form is purely down to the players knowing what to do - but it is the truth.

Howe’s system has been designed to get the very best out of the players at his disposal and even if they aren’t at the top of their game, as seen just this week, then they are still able to not just grind out results, but dominate their opponents. Speaking on the Sky Sports Overlap Fan Debate, Jamie Carragher described the job done by Howe at Newcastle as ‘outstanding’: “Eddie Howe is currently the best performing Premier League manager this season, in terms of what he’s getting from his players.” Carragher said.

“People will say he has spent a lot of money, but when you look at that team, it doesn’t look like a lot has been spent - they all look like good, solid Premier League players. What he’s getting out of that team, to be in the position they are in, is outstanding.”

As mentioned on numerous occasions, one of the most impressive aspects of Howe’s reign at Newcastle to date, has been his ability to improve the players he inherited. Almiron, Jonjo Shelvey, Joelinton, Emil Krafth, Sean Longstaff and Joe Willock have all enjoyed a resurgence under Howe and all, bar Krafth whose injury will keep him out until next year, continue to play a major role in the first-team.

Of course we all want to see Newcastle hit top gear as soon as possible and the prospect of what this team could achieve when firing on all cylinders is a mouth-watering one. However, right now, it is good to see the steelyness and determination from a group that refuses to let opposition teams impose themselves on any game.

The World Cup break looks set to halt all the momentum gained over the last few weeks, however, it could also be a major boost for Newcastle and one that allows Howe, his coaches and the team to regroup and once again launch an assault on the teams near the top of the table.