Newcastle United boss Eddie Howe cut a composed figure as he took his seat in the Old Trafford Press room last night.

Despite a very good victory against Manchester United, he had the air of a man who wanted more from his players and the look of a head coach who feels the best is yet to come from the Magpies. That's something that already is worrying the rest of the Champions League contenders with Newcastle starting to hit form at just the right time.

A poor pre-Christmas run is behind them and four Premier League victories in a row have propelled the black and whites right back into top four contention. Just five points separate a congested top four after runaway leaders Liverpool and Newcastle still have Chelsea and Nottingham Forest to come at home.

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With no European commitments in spring, Newcastle could get a good clean shot at finishing in the Champions League places again. But while Howe was happy with aspects of his side's performance at Old Trafford, he also had a steely manner about him and did not want to project the image of somebody who is satisfied with the way things are.

Like any top manager, he wants more. Howe told me after the game: "Even at 2-0, you need that third goal and we didn’t get it. We had chances to grab it, and that second half is on a knife-edge.

"If they score, the game can change quickly, and I thought we showed good maturity. We didn’t play to the heights we did in the first half, but we were still effective and saw the game out well."

But Howe did admit that Newcastle's opening 30 minutes was up there with his team's best levels this season. I'd personally go a step further than that and say for that half an hour, that was up there with the best flowing attacking football I've seen across the Premier League years, the only difference was compared to the Entertainers and Sir Bobby Robson's great team, the modern Mags weren't rewarded with more goals for their openings.

However, like the Kevin Keegan days and like the Sir Bobby era, the feeling watching on was: "How many are we going to score?"

The head coach admitted afterwards: "I think for half-an-hour of that first half, that was probably as good as we’ve been. But every game is different, and the challenge is always difficult."

Although, Howe has now done something even Keegan or Sir Bobby could manage. And that was win convincingly at Old Trafford.

He stands alongside Alan Pardew as only the second man to do so away to Man United, but this time Newcastle were not left hanging on for their points. And Howe had a genuine human quality about him afterwards as he spoke with humility.

When Pardew, as respectable as his record was on Tyneside on the whole, won here in 2013, he refused to answer questions from Tyneside journalists despite pulling off the biggest of his career! Newcastle nosedived shortly after beating the Red Devils back then, but where Howe can take this team is frightening.

His man management is second to none as he recognises the achievements of his players but then wipes the slate clean in training the next day.