Alan Smith: We know Hughton is boss

Sep 29 2009 by Stuart Rayner, The Journal

“In the summer, I didn’t see why we couldn’t do well,” insisted Smith, who has handed the captain’s armband back to Nicky Butt. “A lot of people probably said with everything going on it would be too much of a distraction.

“That’s what the coaching staff have done so well, they have taken all the distractions away and we’ve just got on with it as a group. We’ve knuckled down and worked hard because I think we felt we had a point to prove.

“As players we put pressure on ourselves to produce good performances. We’re knocking the ball around because wins bring confidence, performances come with confidence. The pressure for us now is to keep winning.

“As a professional footballer you should be constantly putting yourself under pressure so standards don’t slip. We know we didn’t play well against Plymouth and we wanted to put that right, which I think we did against Ipswich.

“This is only the start. Wins are massive, especially if you can put them back to back and get a run going. We’ve got to carry on being as committed and as dedicated as we have been. If we do, that will stand us in good stead for the rest of the season.”

The improvement in Smith this season has been startling, as with fellow midfielder Kevin Nolan. Having been bought in January to score goals, the Merseysider did not find the net for the Magpies in the Premier League. But Saturday’s hat-trick at Ipswich Town continued a rich vein of form.

“We went with two up front for the first time in a while and Andy Carroll and Nile Ranger were tremendous,” said Smith. “That let Kevin Nolan bomb on from midfield and he got his hat-trick.

“He fully deserved it because he’s probably been one of our best players this season. He likes to bomb forward and can do that if Nicky Butt and myself just sit in front of the back four and concentrate more on the defensive side.”