Make no mistake, boss expected his side to be up now
ERRORS HAVE BEEN COSTLY –BENITEZ
RAFA Benitez and Newcastle United could well have been promoted by now.
With 85 points in the bag, they are on course for an instant return to the Premier League and a place in the top flight is so close – United can almost reach out and touch it.
Yet with three games to go nothing is certain for Newcastle in terms of automatic promotion.
All eyes will be on Huddersfield’s game with Fulham today but a victory for the Terriers will prolong the wait until Monday and possibly beyond.
Benitez admits he felt things could be settled by now.
He said: “We were expecting to win some of the games in our hands, especially Leeds. We played really well and we were there.
“We were winning, had 22 attempts and very clear chances.
“That is something you cannot control and why football is so special.”
Newcastle’s late-season dip in form has resulted in Brighton overtaking them at the top of the Championship.
United have made errors in recent games but Benitez feels it is a combination of reasons why his team has not functioned in the way it did earlier in the season.
He added: “Sometimes you have to give credit to the other teams.
“Sometimes you make mistakes, like we did against Leeds.
“The other day against Ipswich we did not play at the level we are used to playing – especially away as we have a very good record.
“You have to give credit to another team when they push and push.
“If you make mistakes they will take advantage of that and you pay.”
Newcastle have spent more time looking at mistakes this week at the club’s training round.
Benitez’s team had excellent away form earlier in the campaign but have lost back-to-back road trips to Sheffield Wednesday and Ipswich.
He reflected: “The mistakes we made in the crucial moments made a big difference.
“When you are doing well and you think you can win a big game. Then after it ends up being a draw.
“Mentally it is not easy for players to recover. You have to be ready for the next game.
“Ipswich was not a bad game. We were not suffering but we made a mistake and gave them a chance.
“When we scored a goal we then made another mistake – it gave them a chance. After each game, we analyse and work on it. You must do that every week.”
For all that, Newcastle could still end up promoted on Monday night if they get a favour from Fulham over the weekend.
Benitez said: “It will be nice for surebut the other teams can still do something and we have to do our job.
“The only thing we can control is our team.
“We have to be sure in the next three games we concentrate on our jobs properly.
“If the other results go in our favour, even better.
“Promotion? It depends on us. Not social media or the newspapers or websites.”