Rafael Benitez was left disappointed with Newcastle’s finishing after a goalless draw against Aston Villa on Saturday left the club on the brink of relegation.
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A desperate 0-0 draw at Aston Villa on Saturday, paired with Sunderland’s thrilling 3-2 victory against Chelsea, leaves Newcastle needing to beat Tottenham on the final day and hope Sunderland slip up twice, but the Black Cats can relegate their fierce rivals by beating Everton on Wednesday. “Still though, if they can not win the next game, then we have to fight in our last game, try to get three points, and see what happens”.
Both scenarios look unlikely though, with Allardyce and his troops prepared for a nerve-wracking final week of the season to be decided on the last day at Vicarage Road.
The game began in an nearly carnival atmosphere inside Villa Park, with Villa fans tossing beach balls around as they continued to boo their own players.
We are riding high on the tails of recent good results but we can’t believe our own press.
Villa’s late collapse at Watford last weekend equalled a club-record run of 11 consecutive defeats, which was set back in 1963 – another reverse this weekend would put this team in the record books for all the wrong reasons.
Saturday’s game turned on its head in the matter of just a few second half minutes, as first Fabio Borini grabbed an equalizer, then Jermain Defoe scored the victor for Sunderland in just about the next passage of play.
He said: “I think last week we edged closer”.
“They’re a good side, so there’s no reason why they can’t go to Sunderland and get a result”.
“You’ve got a world-class manager who took four games to understand his players, his systems and work out his best team, so you can’t tell me 10 games is enough to turn it round”.
Benitez said: “We tried to do what we had to do”.
“The flawless manager for Everton, for me, if Martinez does go, and it probably won’t happen, is Rafa Benitez”, the Welshman told BBC Radio 5Live. We conceded from two mistakes and when you play against big teams, they convert the chances they get.
Fans kept themselves entertained with dozens of giant beach balls that they floated around the stadium for the first 20 minutes of the game, and again in 74th minute protest.
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“But you can not change things, just analyse what you’ve done and be sure that you are right if it goes to the last game”.
