Benitez has faith in Toon ability to turn things round

RAFA Benitez says he is refusing to panic after Newcastle United slumped to a third home defeat in a row at St James’ Park.

The Magpies remain in the relegation zone but Benitez remained calm after the 2-1 loss to Arsenal.

Speaking directly after the game Benitez was asked if he was worried about the club’s poor start to the campaign.

He said: “No - I said before, it’s a difficult time because you have to win games, but it’s nothing that we were not expecting, it could be like that.

“The only thing is that maybe against Cardiff, we could have got three points but you can see with Arsenal at Cardiff, anything can happen.

“If Cardiff had scored early goals, they could have won, so it’s not an easy game to play.

“But the reality is that against a top side, you can lose and we have lost by a small margin. “That’s the only positive.” Benitez felt that strikes from Granit Xhaka and Mezut Ozil were the only two moments of quality.

He said: “Yes, that’s an easy analysis, two moments of quality changed the game.

“I think we did enough in the first half maybe to score and to show people that we can compete against these teams.

“As soon as something was wrong, it was quite difficult for us because we conceded two early goals and then our goal was too late.

“In the second half, 2-0 down with one substitution already made, it was not easy to manage against a very good team.

“We are talking about a team with so much quality, players with pace, with ability and as soon as we were attacking, we were open and we were exposed.

“We did well in the first half, but the second half was more difficult. You think that if you do well, you can get points against these teams.”

Benitez was also asked whether he was concerned about the fact his side failed to take their chances.

He commented: “I am not concerned because I know my team, I know they think that we can do well.

“The next step is to be sure you have the ability, the quality in the final third to make the difference.

“For us, it’s important to be there to create chances because we have to create more than the other teams.

“Arsenal, they told me, had only two shots on target and they scored two goals, so that was the difference in the end.”