Boss Spurs on Magpies for big finale

RAFA Benitez has demanded a reaction from his Newcastle United players when the Magpies travel to Wembley on Wednesday evening, writes CHRIS WAUGH.

The Magpies slipped to a third successive defeat on Saturday as Newcastle were defeated 2-1 by Watford at Vicarage Road.

While Benitez believes his squad deserves praise for the “great achievement” of securing top-flight safety with five games to spare, he does not like the manner in which the Magpies have performed in recent games.

The first half in Hertfordshire, in particular, was probably the worst 45 minutes of Newcastle’s season.

Benitez wants his side to perform better from the very start of the match against Tottenham.

“It is not a question of motivation,” the Spaniard said after his side slipped to a third successive defeat.

“We achieved something which was really important and difficult - to stay up with five games to go was a great achievement.

“The team has been working so hard sometimes it is difficult to keep this level.

“We tend to change players, we tend to change things if we can but we play against teams with quality too and if you don’t make the right decisions then you can fall behind.

“These mistakes, and the experience the other teams have, you pay for that.

“With this in mind, the team is working hard, running, but we are going late into situations and we are making mistakes because maybe we do not have this concentration, this responsibility and the necessity to get points.

“So we can just think: ‘If we go now, we can see what happens.’ It does not matter too much if we lose a game.

“Now we must realise we have lost three in a row and we have to react.

The teams in the Premier League are quite good and, if you make mistakes, you will pay for that.”

In their final two matches against Spurs and then Chelsea at St James’ Park, Benitez wants to see Newcastle return to winning ways.

He added: “I was really proud of this group of players because they were doing really well.

“Now, still I am proud of them, but I would like to see the team winning and finishing the season on a high.” at Vicarage Road IF RAFA Benitez does eventually sit down for face-to-face talks with Mike Ashley this summer, he need only cite the 5-1 aggregate scoreline by which Newcastle United have lost to Watford this season as justification for significant investment going forward.

At this stage, negotiations over Benitez’s long-term future are being conducted by the Spaniard’s representatives and managing-director Lee Charnley.

Yet they are now two weeks old and the longer they progress the more likely it is appearing the owner will be called upon to break the impasse.

Benitez himself is not ruling out such a meeting with Ashley - but neither is he demanding it at this stage.

Having taken Newcastle to promotion at the first attempt as secondtier champions, and then having followed that up by securing United’s top-flight status with five games to spare, Benitez has earned another audience with Ashley as a minimum. During such a summit, he can point to the 3-0 humbling Newcastle took at the hands of the Hornets at St James’ Park in November before adding in the 2-1 loss at Vicarage Road on Saturday. He can stress how he has guided United to safety this season, in spite of the obvious limitations in his squad - but the Spaniard can also impress upon Ashley he cannot repeat this type of “miracle” every season. Well, given Benitez’s world-class nature, he probably could if he set his mind to it - but he will instead emphasise he is unwilling to do so. The former Real Madrid manager first ventured to St James’ Park and then remained in situ following relegation, not because he wanted to fight to stay in the top flight long term – but because he wanted to compete for European qualification and more importantly trophies. With the current squad he has at his disposal, Rafa Benitez barks out the orders at Vicarage Road Benitez knows those goals are simply unattainable.

The grout of a successful squad is in place but it requires greater depth – and it needs more than just a minor sprinkling of star dust, too.

At Vicarage Road on Saturday, Benitez wanted to make significant changes to coax a performance out of a side which appears to have lacked motivation, intensity and focus ever since it secured promotion with five games to spare.

However, given the injuries to Christian Atsu and Ciaran Clark, and Islam Slimani’s suspension, the dearth of quality alternatives were soon laid bare.

Javier Manquillo and Jacob Murphy were elevated into the starting XI but neither is proven at Premier League level – and both had a first half to forget in Hertfordshire.

Inside half an hour, Newcastle were 2-0 down - by half-time they could quite feasibly have been four or five goals adrift but for man of the match Martin Dubravka’s heroics.

For their first goal, the Hornets capitalised on a wayward United clearance which allowed Roberto Pereyra, who found himself in acres of space at the back post, to curl home.

Former United striker target Andre Gray added a second when Dubravka – who had already made a tremendous double save earlier in the game to deny Pereyra and then Troy Deeney – misjudged a cross and the Watford forward nodded into an empty net.

Paul Dummett then clipped Gray in the box to concede a spot kick – though Benitez was adamant it was not a foul – and Dubravka was called upon again to make a tremendous double stop, thwarting Deeney both from the initial penalty and the follow-up.

It is hard to stress how poor the Magpies were during that first half.

It was a lethargic, mistake-ridden 45 minutes which left Benitez seething. He delivered home truths to his players at half time and accused them of “lacking focus” after the game.

Thankfully, Newcastle did respond in the second 45 minutes as they were driven forward by a muchimproved Jonjo Shelvey – and, if truth be told, they were unfortunate not to grab a point.