Mitrovic pressed to get goals for top-flight spot
RAFA PRAISES SERBIAN FOR HARD WORK IN TRAINING
RAFA Benitez has challenged Aleksandar Mitrovic to “play to his strengths” and score the goals which will secure Newcastle United’s Premier League status for next season. The 22-year-old has scored four goals in 22 Championship appearances this term, although only nine of those have been as a starter. But he netted four times in two games against Preston North End earlier in the season and, with Dwight Gayle still sidelined with a hamstring injury, Serbia international Mitrovic could feature against the Lilywhites tomorrow. “Mitrovic has been training well,” Benitez replied when asked how he assessed Mitrovic’s season to date. “The problem for Mitrovic and [Daryl] Murphy has been Gayle. “Gayle was doing so well that it was difficult for him to play. “After, when Mitrovic had a chance, he got injured, so then Murphy did well.
“When you play with one striker, the competition is not easy.
“It’s easy for anyone to see that some players have been really good – Gayle has been scoring goals.
“Players that aren’t playing too much, you have to analyse them – the way they behave, train and work every week.
“Mitrovic is someone who likes to work. He likes to do more finishing.”
As well as praising Mitrovic’s additional training, Benitez has also been working with the striker in order to encourage him to play to his strengths.
Mitrovic has scored six goals in all com- petitions this season, although four of those came in two games against Preston inside a week
“That doesn’t really influence my thinking,” Benitez said when asked if Mitrovic’s goal-scoring record against Preston could see him start ahead of Murphy, who scored against his former club Ipswich Town on Easter Monday.
“I know that he did well against them, but every game is different.
“I was quite happy with his game against Leeds the other day. He worked so hard.
“And when he doesn’t play the next game, some fans and journalists don’t realise that the players sometimes need to rest, especially at the end of the season.
“When you are winning and you have the confidence and you have the experience, sometimes when you have experience, you don’t need to run so much.
“Our team does not have this experience.
“So we have to manage the squad and make sure everyone is fresh.
“If we can win the last three games and score a lot of goals, everyone will say fantastic.
“He was working very hard and he is trying his best.
“The way that he plays is something we have to consider.
“Gayle is a runner, Murph and Mitro are more targetmen. He has to play to his strengths and hopefully we can use him and he can score goals.”