Newcastle United boss Eddie Howe told his players to "dream big" and "aim high" after the victory against Southampton at St Mary's.

In an emotive post-game speech that one insider said would have been fit for the Amazon Prime cameras, Howe attempted to bottle up as much of the feelgood factor as possible after the victory against the Saints. It's now 10 wins out of 11 for Howe's side and they smashed past the 40-point barrier with 16 games to go on Saturday night.

Howe famously reeled off a classic speech that was caught on camera during the Prime documentary when he said before the excellent 2023 victory over Manchester United "If they want a quick game, coming here, let's f*cking give it to them! Let's blow them away with our running, let's be intense in every action that we do.... let's go!"

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But amid Howe's words of encouragement, last night on the South Coast came a slight warning to any stars who weren't happy about non-inclusion in his side. With the likes of Sven Botman, Kieran Trippier, Nick Pope, Joe Willock and Lewis Miley unable to get on the team sheet, Howe told anybody who was "upset" to do something about.

Internally, Howe wants players to block any noise from critics or those who question what the Magpies are attempting to do. Instead, he has set the team standards and the simple message is to adhere to them if they want to achieve their dreams and goals this season.

In what feels like a siege mentality in the Toon camp, the players were given a timely reminder that, despite what happened against Bournemouth last weekend, that they can achieve something "very special" this season. Winning a trophy of course would see the Magpies eclipse every team since 1969 while a Champions League place would ensure Howe's team are only just the fifth United side to do so since the competition was expanded in 1997.

Alexander Isak edges closer to Alan Shearer

The Sweden international grabbed his 19th of the season in all competitions for Newcastle and moved up to third in the Premier League's golden boot battle. The bigger picture for Isak saw him move past Callum Wilson in the club's all-time Prem top scorer chart with 48 goals.

Only Shearer is ahead of him on 148 now but at 25 and with three years left on his contract he may feel he can run Big Al close. Signing a long-term deal at the club would also give him a genuine opportunity to catch the Geordie legend in terms of Prem goals.

As for the big one? Well, Shearer's 206 may never be beaten, and Isak - who has 54 in total at Newcastle - will need to get his skates on to overhaul the goalscoring master.

Newcastle fan tribute from Howe

The 350-mile journey from Tyneside to Hampshire is tricky enough at the best of times. But throw in engineering works down the East Coast mainline and a national weather warning and it becomes even more difficult.

Despite the mammoth trek, Newcastle fans were in great form and despite the freezing weather some even had their shirts off! The backing for the team - notably when they went 1-0 down after 10 minutes - was immense.

And this wasn't lost on Howe, who said: "The noise created by our away support was incredible. Those who braved those elements to come down, we thank them from the bottom of our hearts. We hope they have a safe journey back."