Forget my contract Rafa tells Toon... we must start winning
RAFA BENITEZ says now is not the time to be distracted by his own future — especially as Newcastle face a daunting run which he admits could leave them with one point after five matches.
Today’s game against Chelsea is followed by a trip to Manchester City, the visit of Arsenal and comes after an away draw at Cardiff and a opening-day loss to Tottenham.
Supporter protests against owner Mike Ashley continue, and fans fear Benitez will quit the club when his contract expires next summer.
But the Spaniard, frustrated by a summer of transfer activity which returned a £21million profit, said: ‘I would like you to park this (contract talk). It doesn’t change a thing.
‘Can I change my squad from now to January?
‘No, so it won’t change anything in terms of my approach to games. I have to put everything into training sessions.
‘For now, we have to concentrate on what we can influence. Everybody knows it was a miracle to finish 10th last season and suspected it could be very tough for us this season, but we have one point already. I knew the beginning of the season could be difficult, but now we have to be sure in this period that we bring the new players together. The understanding between players has to be good and we must be sure that we can compete and be stronger for the future.
‘Hopefully it will be more than one point (after five games), but I would still be confident we can do well (if that is the case). All the things that happened during the summer, we have to forget now and concentrate on football.’
Benitez comes up against new Chelsea boss Maurizio Sarri this afternoon, the man who succeeded him as manager of Napoli in 2015.
And he says he is envious of the set-up Sarri has inherited at Stamford Bridge.
‘Even if you change managers the structure is still there at Chelsea,’ said Benitez, who won the Europa League during an interim spell in charge of the Blues in 2013. ‘The majority of the people have been there for years and know their job.
‘And Sarri is a quite a clever person, a good coach and he has a good team. He will have fewer things to worry about because he can concentrate on his football.
‘When you have everything in place, it’s not difficult.
‘So I think they can win the title. Maybe at the moment there are three teams you could say are a little bit ahead of the others — Chelsea, Liverpool and Manchester City.’