No alarm bells at Newcastle United as stats don't lie despite angry reaction

Newcastle United are just four points off their seasonal tally from 12 months ago in the Premier League - suggesting that there are no alarm bells ringing at St James' Park.

Although, their top-flight position of 11th has understandably led to fan concerns and the aftermath of the late equaliser against Crystal Palace led to increased noise and questions from both supporter sites and pundits over the weekend. The Mag's editiorial ran with a piece suggesting some people have "short memories" while True Faith carried a piece posing the question: "Is Eddie's race run?"

Under Howe, Newcastle are still in a very tight race for a European spot, the Magpies are 90 minutes away from a two-legged semi-final in the Carabao Cup and still have the FA Cup to look forward to. Those are the cold facts of the season so far.

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Are Newcastle in bad form? They have lost one in the last five matches in all competitions and were seconds away from four wins out of five at Selhurst Park.

Whatever your opinion is, there is no overwhelming evidence yet to suggest that this season can't lead to at least the prize of European football. True, Newcastle aren't playing exhibition stuff this season and have managed just 14 Premier League goals but they haven't been horrendous either.

Sven Botman is also due back soon and the January transfer window is just around the corner meaning improvements could be made in terms of recruitment. The recent win over Arsenal and Carabao Cup victory over Chelsea also showed just how quickly the mood can swing on Tyneside.

Although, their top-flight position of 11th has understandably led to concerns and the aftermath of the late equaliser against Crystal Palace led to increased noise and questions from both fan sites and pundits over the weekend. For all the disappointment over Daniel Munoz's and questions over United's tally of no shots on target, Newcastle's backroom team still felt that the team were a threat after earning nine corners and making a dozen entries into the penalty area.

United's backroom team feel that it will be a long time before they endure a statistic of no shots on target and the reality is they were 30 seconds away from holding out for three points. But overall the tally of 19 points on the board is actually one of the best at the club in more than a decade.

Only three times since 2013 have Newcastle bettered 19 points - and two of them have been under Howe. Last season they had 23 points in the bag so far and the Champions League qualification season United had yielded 24. Had Newcastle beaten Palace they'd have been sitting in the same seventh placed position they achieved last season and there are only four points between fourth spot and 11th meaning the fight for Europe is wide open.

After the game, sporting director Paul Mitchell and performance director James Bunce headed for the dressing room area and sympathised with the team and the backroom staff. It was business as usual at the training ground on Monday as preparations got under way for Liverpool.

Mitchell recently said on Howe: "My job is to support him. To collaborate, support, challenge, debate all for the benefit for the football club. But we have a very talented head coach/manager and our collaboration is as frequent or infrequent as it needs to be. I am fortunate to have been doing this a long time with some really good intelligent coaches as well and Eddie definitely falls into that bracket but I have other responsibilities as well.

"Eddie is an elite professional and it would be remiss of me or any sporting director to be looking over his shoulder, to be on the training pitch or to micromanage somebody that is extremely talented at what he does."

Howe's win Premier League win ratio at Newcastle is 48%, better than Sir Bobby Robson (46%) and only Kevin Keegan has more with 55%. Yes, there are some concerns but nothing anywhere near close to a crisis.