Newcastle have lost what made them so formidable

Have Newcastle United become too nice?

Speak to those inside the dressing room at St James’ Park and it feels like a genuine concern. Once regarded as such an irritant that rules were changed to head off some of their dark arts, the fear is that Eddie Howe’s side have lost some of the edge that accompanied them when they crashed the Premier League elite.

These are the kind of growing pains that come when you attempt to turbocharge a club’s progress. Newcastle were once the upstarts, feeding off a perceived lack of respect from England and Europe’s best clubs. But that tag no longer applies and the Magpies are attempting to forge a new identity.

Perhaps in the rush to do it, they have lost some of the street smarts that helped them get there in the first place.

“You can still have an