Eddie Howe has stressed Newcastle United are not 'too worried' about what other people think as the Magpies prove they are no longer 'soft touches'.
Newcastle limited Manchester United to just two shots on target in a goalless draw at Old Trafford on Sunday and there were a smattering of boos from the home support at full-time. It was an afternoon where Manchester United boss Erik ten Hag bemoaned the Red Devils' failure to 'kill' Newcastle while Cristiano Ronaldo's furious reaction to being substituted late on summed up the hosts' frustration.
Newcastle had lost their previous five away games against Manchester United by an aggregate score of 18-6, but the Magpies are a very different proposition these days. This side, after all, also thwarted Liverpool for large spells at Anfield earlier this season. That game ended in a 2-1 defeat, following Fabio Carvalho's controversial late winner, but Newcastle were still booed off by Liverpool supporters after disrupting the hosts' rhythm.
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There has certainly been a shift in how Newcastle have been perceived by opposition supporters and that has only helped fuel a siege mentality within the camp as Howe's side bid to upset the established order in the coming years..
"We want to be competitive," Howe told reporters. "We don't want to be looked at as soft touches or we're just turning up to entertain.
"We want to turn up and win and compete. To do that, you can't look at teams and overly respect them too much. You just have to play the game and you have to play the game hard and fair.
"That's what we have tried to do in every game this season so we will continue with that method and approach. We will just do our thing. We are not really too worried about what other people think about us."
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