The coolest guy in the stadium
Benitez gets his game plan spot-on as United bank a vital three points:
WHEN all the points are added up and the final Premier League table is calculated for Newcastle United it might be worth looking back to March 10 as one of the key dates of the season.
This was a day when Rafa Benitez earned his money as one of the top managers in football after executing a game plan that nailed three big points and kept one of United’s main rivals in Southampton at arm’s length.
Perhaps Benitez’s calmness in the build-up to this clash was also just as important as his tactics on the day?
While other clubs like West Ham, West Brom and the Saints seem to be losing their heads and sinking fast - Benitez and United are staying ice cool just at the right time.
Going into the game there had been a little bit of noise and one or two murmurs of discontent over the manager’s tactics after last weekend’s defeat against Liverpool.
It was claimed that Benitez’s Newcastle just don’t attack enough and play defensive football, but with seven goal attempts and three chances converted the Magpies did more than enough to win convincingly.
During the debate outside the four walls of United’s training centre, Benitez stayed cool and transmitted that very message to his players who in turn focused on the job in hand and carried out a match winning game plan.
Benitez didn’t panic, or try to read the riot act to his players, or complain about the fact he had nothing to spend in January.
Instead he’s worked with the squad he’s got and he is getting every ounce out of quality out of his team.
Anybody who was at the game on Saturday could see that with every player putting in a full shift and this squad seem very different to the groups that were relegated in 2009 and 2016.
On the weekend of Benitez’s two-year anniversary his team seemed to be fired up and determined to get in the faces of Southampton – with that urgency resulting in a goal from Kenedy after just 63 seconds.
The Brazilian’s second goal on the half hour mark laid the foundations for three points and while Newcastle never looked like they were going to add to Matt Ritchie’s killer strike, nobody in St James’ Park complained as the Magpies cruised to victory.
United may only have banked three points on the day - but it still felt like they’d achieved a bit more in the context of their season overall.
It felt like a momentum shift in the relegation battle because on a day in which Benitez’s side did everything right, others below them dropped points and the gap heading into the last eight games of the campaign.
As long as Benitez can keep his players as calm and composed as he did last week, Newcastle will stay afloat as a Premier League club for next season.
But as a three-week break from
Premier League action gets underway here’s some food for thought.
What could Newcastle United achieve if Benitez was afforded a decent transfer kitty?
Saturday’s three points were yielded thanks to two of Benitez’s January loan signings in Martin Dubravka and Kenedy while none of the starting XI cost United a fee in excess of £12million on the United chief’s two-year watch so far.
Staying up is one thing for Newcastle but then it will be down to either United owner Mike Ashley selling the club or sitting down with Benitez (inset right) and drawing up a plan that allows him to start spending a decent portion of the TV money that is coming its way.
Ashley wasn’t there to see it on Saturday but this was St James’ Park in full flow with the crackling atmosphere spurring the home side on to an important win.
If it’s the same again when Huddersfield Town arrive on Tyneside at the end of the month Newcastle will be almost safe.