Benitez still wary of relegation fear
Newcastle United moved closer to safety after beating Huddersfield Town 1-0 at St James’s Park on Saturday.
Rafa Benitez’s side – who have a game in hand – are now within striking distance of a clutch of mid-table teams.
However, Newcastle’s manager remains preoccupied with the situation at the bottom end of the table.
Asked if he was looking up the table, Benitez said: “Not really, I wanted to know how the other teams around us had done, but I know we have to win at least another game (to be safe).
“I’m not watching more at the top of the table.
“I just want to make sure we enjoy the next couple of days and we are ready for the next game, to get three points and move even further away from the relegation places.”
Benitez always felt his team would perform better in the second half of the season. Asked why, he said: “It’s the way we train. “We don’t just coach, we try to teach players. They are learning what they have to do. “It’s not just about this season, it’s for the rest of their lives. “You have to do this, they make 10 runs, and they have to make the right ones.”
Meanwhile, Huddersfield manager David Wagner felt his team deserved a point.
“It was frustrating to concede so late in the game,” said Wagner. “In the second half, our game-plan worked more or less perfectly. We wanted to frustrate them, we wanted to play from a deeper block, minimise their chances and hurt them on the counter.
“It was defensively one of our best performances in the second half of the season.”