Former Newcastle star Joey Barton has admitted that he feared for his former club last month but added that he has been impressed by the way that his ex-side played as they won their past three Premier League matches in succession.
After losing their first two matches of the League, the Magpies bounced back by winning their last three in a row and currently occupy fourth position on the Premier League standings with 9 points from five matches.
Following the defeat to Huddersfield Town, Barton admitted that he had been fearing for his former side as he felt that they lacked strength in depth. However as the club have improved, he thinks that they can continue their winning run with matches against Brighton and Hove Albion and Liverpool coming up.
He said, “I feared for Newcastle after the Huddersfield game. There were issues going on around Benitez – the transfer, no-transfer saga – I just feared after they got beat then and the way they performed, that it was going to be a very difficult season for them. Credit to Rafa and the Newcastle players though, great results.
“West Ham at home and at the weekend against Stoke [and at Swansea], they’re games that I think Newcastle’s seasons will be judged off. It won’t be judged off the likes of games against [Manchester] City and [Manchester] United, it will be against those teams around them.
“There are three big games coming up, playing against Brighton then Liverpool at home and Southampton away, so a couple of winnable games there.”
