I think Eddie Howe coming under pressure at Newcastle United is absolutely ridiculous

Newcastle United manager Eddie Howe has had to deal with claims he is under pressure at St James’ Park after going winless in their last four Premier League matches.

Newcastle United’s legendary goalkeeper Shay Given believes it is ‘absolutely ridiculous’ Eddie Howe is coming under any sort of pressure following their tough spell in the Premier League.

The Magpies have not won in the top flight since the pre-Christmas victory over Fulham at St James’ Park. Despite this, there was promising signs in the narrow 3-2 defeat to Manchester City on Saturday.

Alexander Isak and Anthony Gordon’s quickfire double had the visitors rocking but Kevin De Bruyne’s introduction with 20 minutes remaining turned the game on its head. While a draw may have been a fair result, Newcastle suffered late heartbreak as youngster Oscar Bobb rounded Martin Dubravka in stoppage time to win it late on.

Addressing the current situation at the club, Given believes it is way too early for Howe to be at risk of losing his job. He told BBC Radio 5 Live’s Monday Night Club: “Eddie Howe has supposedly come under pressure from some parts of the media in the last couple of weeks which I find absolutely ridiculous of course. I think last season they overachieved and they are ahead of where they thought they would be.

Chris [Sutton] mentions FFP and he is right in a sense because they are hamstrung. They have got the wealthiest owners in world football but they can’t spend that money to compete with Man City.

“There was no such thing as FFP back then when City started spending so that fast forwards things but everything Newcastle do is under a microscope. Is there a monopoly at the very top where these clubs do not want the likes of Newcastle or even an Everton, to fast forward to challenging at the top of the league?”

In response, Sutton echoed Given’s sentiments, adding: “Even at the weekend when Manchester City dominated the ball, there was something really exciting about Newcastle and I think the fans appreciate that. If Eddie Howe was more tentative about the way they set the team up there would be more concern and anger about how the team are performing.

“I think he is the right man for the job, there really needs to be patience like Shay quite rightly said they overachieved last season. This season they have had a bit of a blip but you still feel they are moving in the right direction.”