Chris Hughton: We’ll not become complacent

Sep 30 2009 by Mark Douglas, The Journal

CHRIS Hughton insists his team will not fall prey to complacency after their flying start to the Championship season.

Despite predictions that they would struggle to cope with life in the second tier, Newcastle United have sailed through the opening two months of the season and look to have a clear edge over most of their rivals.

Over-confidence and injuries would appear to be the biggest threat to an immediate return to the Premier League, but Hughton has reassured supporters that there is no chance of complacency creeping into the squad.

“I think it is one thing that we have been stressing to the players all of the time. We’ve had to fight for everything we’ve got and as soon as we stop doing that then we may struggle,” he said.

“The season so far speaks for itself – it was a comfortable win on Saturday and the scoreline reflected that, but we’ve had a lot of games where we’ve had to fight and scrap for everything.

“There have been long passages of play where we haven’t been the better team. Leicester came and played well, Sheffield Wednesday did – it is there for the players to see.

“There are so many games. When there is the temptation to start looking forward you ask someone how many games there are to go and there are so many you can’t afford to get carried away.”