Toon boss finds a write way to win
RAFA BENITEZ has left no page unturned in his bid to revive Newcastle’s fortunes.
He’s even been scouring the notes he kept as a rookie manager at Extremadura when they were struggling at the wrong end of Primera Liga.
What he won’t have read in any manual are tips to substitute a team’s two most influential characters, swapping them with players who have barely kicked a ball for their club.
By the 51st minute Newcastle’s bench had been emptied, more by accident than design, with captain Jamaal Lascelles and playmaker Jonjo Shelvey joining Yoshinori Muto on the treatment table.
Their replacements didn’t exactly fill anxious fans with confidence.
Ayoze Perez, axed from the starting line-up, was booed, while Ki Sung-yueng and Fabian Schar have made little impact since arriving in the summer.
Cheers
Yet the unlikely trio transformed a match which Watford had bossed with embarrassing ease.
Schar slotted in impressively, looking a more natural fit alongside Federico Fernandez than Lascelles. Ki, meanwhile, pulled the midfield strings in a way Shelvey had failed to do.
And Perez turned the jeers to cheers, diverting Ki’s free-kick past Ben Foster for the Toon’s first goal in over five hours,
Victory was hardly deserved against opponents who created – and missed – countless chances.
But it could prove a turning point for the team and certain individuals.
Ki had spent recent weeks wondering if Benitez even rated him. “It was my first game for a while and I am just so pleased that I could help the team at a really important time,” he said.
“Obviously it was the manager’s decision that I haven’t played