Rafael Benitez has challenged Newcastle to rediscover their “character and passion” or face slipping to Premier League relegation with a whimper. And with only six matches left, “later” is no longer an option.
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“That’s not a situation that we can have away from home, so we have to make changes to how we’ll play away from home”.
“But now it’s the time to stick together and try to do our best because that’s the only way”.
But they will have to improve on Saturday’s showing, because even doomed Villa might capitalise on the type of defending on view on the South Coast.
Southampton’s Graziano Pelle celebrates scoring their second goal.
Slack marking allowed Mane to steal a march from a short corner, with Wanyama firing in the rebound after Jose Fonte’s effort from the Senegal international’s low delivery had been blocked by Darlow.
Why do these errors keep occurring?
But can they? Midfield player Georginio Wijnaldum admits that he is baffled by the team’s fragile self-belief.
Newcastle find themselves six points adrift of safety with only six games to go and after another poor display from his players Rafa Benitez will be struggling to find any positives as they are without a win in their last seven games.
The result leaves the Magpies second from bottom in the Premier League, six points behind Norwich in 17th.
“Some of the players know we can do it, but some of them are anxious about these mistakes that we’re making in games”. I don’t understand that – it is a lack of focus.
“If other teams lose some games maybe it will be enough with four wins”, said Benitez. We have to change that in one way or another.
Newcastle host Swansea on Saturday and still have four home games in their survival fight, with Benitez targeting a clean sweep.
Most importantly, the undoubted talent in the team needs to come to the fore earlier. From the best in football to the worst.
Koeman said after the game: “If a team is really fighting against relegation they are not full of confidence”.
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“As long as there is a chance to stay up, you must believe”. He said what we needed to do and we got a reaction with a goal back. But it has to start now. We played with four in front and it created a lot of problems for Newcastle.
