The loss against Sheffield Wednesday was only 1 of 5 Newcastle have had this season - the other four being twice against Liverpool, once against City away and the last against us in the final. In the league, they've got a +18 GD on us. They have a wage bill that's one third of ours, spent 80m lesser than us, and even after that their top two signings, Isak and Gordon, have a combined 900 minutes, 6 goals and 0 assists between them - basically money with no returns so far. They did not beat Barca in the EL, sure, but they didn't lose 7-0 at Anfield, 6-3 at the Etihad or 4-0 at Brentford, either. There are ways to show EtH is making progress without trying to belittle Eddie Howe's achievements this season.
My post was not solely to downplay EtH's achievements, it also reflects on the quality of the squad itself and how we are extremely dependent on the likes of Casemiro and Rashford and drop points when they both are absent/have off games. While, I do believe EtH is the best we've had since SAF, I'm cautious about whether he's better than his counterparts at the top clubs we compete with for silverware without knowing if we'll upgrade the squad wisely. A comparison with Eddie Howe's Newcastle was made only to illustrate that we're still closer to Newcastle than we are to City, and that it's not as rosy as some are trying to paint it, and that we have very long way to go.
You can't look at the positives like Barca and ignore the negatives like how poor we've been of late and the hammerings we've received this season - that would be cherrypicking.
Agreed - we were exceptional in some games this season, Barca tie being one of them. But Eddie Howe didn't get thrashed by City and Liverpool, either.
I agree that simply relegating our Europa + FA Cup run (and all the games involved) to 'context' is perhaps misrepresentative. But the point wasn't to downplay EtH's progress, it's to highlight that even after that, we're closer to Newcastle's season than City's, and that we've got a long long way to go before we are convinced he's the man to compete for the top silverware - especially since our squad is heavily reliant on performances of two-three players at the moment.