Mood is good ahead of crunch game - Rafa
TOON SPIRITS HAVE BEEN LIFTED BY PERFORMANCES IN LAST TWO MATCHES
NEWCASTLE United could easily be going into their encounter with Brighton feeling demoralised on the back of a heavy home defeat having just faced a Manchester City side who seemingly already have the title sewn up.
Instead, they prepared for the final game of 2017 in great spirits despite losing their fifth home game in a row to make it the worst run of results at St James’ Park since 1953.
Before training, there were some playful snowball fights among players as they got ready for the visit of the Seagulls.
Rafa Benitez was also in fine fettle as he sat down for his last Press conference of the year.
Even being forced to train indoors didn’t dampen Newcastle’s spirits, with a blanket of snow covering the training pitches outside and at least making for a nice festive picture for photographers.
But it seems that the way Newcastle played against City has put them in a good place ahead of this key game against Brighton.
Benitez told the Chronicle: “You have to train and adjust the team then prepare the tactics for the next game regardless.
“Obviously, the load of the training sessions isn’t the same (over the festive period) but in terms of the work you have to do, you still have to train.
“The mood is very good. They have been working hard anyway, but when you are losing games it is also more difficult to keep the confidence high.
“The win against West Ham, and the way that we won it, was helpful. We worked so hard after we conceded a goal and that made a big difference.
“It was a big boost for everyone. The workrate was there and creating chances against a very good team.
“Since Man City the players have grown in confidence again.
“They are ready, they will have confidence but have to win.
“We have to give everything to win these games.”
Benitez spent some time with Pep Guardiola after the 1-0 defeat to City in midweek and it is believed that both sets of coaching teams were delighted at the way the game went. The backroom teams are believed to have likened the game to a contest in Serie A or La Liga, when the more talented team is forced to keep finding solutions to deal with a defensive-minded outfit. Guardiola had also spoken after the game about how his team had been sucked into “a rhythm” of having to keep on building attacks, with Newcastle repelling many of their efforts to get into the box. Despite what pundits like Gary Neville and Jamie Carragher said, Guardiola suggested that the monotony caused by Newcastle’s ultradefensive approach altered his own tactics – and he even ended up throwing on Eliaquim Mangala to shore things up as United pressed in the closing stages.
Since Man City the players have grown in confidence again... we have to give everything to win Rafa Benitez
Benitez said: “City are used to playing against different approaches to stop them.
“Bournemouth played a 5-4-1, we did what we did, it’s the way you do things that can make it difficult for them.
“We tried to do well in defence and did well for a while.
“I know they had some chances but we also had chances from Aarons and chances at the end of the game. “So it’s part of the game now. “When you have teams like Man City who take risks when they go forward, as a manager, you have to try to combat that and I think the fans appreciated that we were on top of them in the last minutes and that was our idea.”
For all the fuss about tactics and Rafa’s approach to Man City, one thing is for sure against Brighton and that is the Toon boss will go back to a style his supporters are more accustomed to.
He said: “There are not too many teams like Man City in the Premier League.
“They have a lot of things like pace, quality and pressing.
“They have a lot of different options.
“Other teams can play more or less with the same shape if you want, but the tactics will be different.
“We knew this game was coming with two others quickly behind, so we had to manage the squad.”