I need cure for Monday night blues
RAFA BENITEZ is desperate to avoid another manic Monday for Newcastle.
The Magpies face Burnley at Turf Moor tonight having lost their past 10 Premier League games played on this day of the week. And they have not scored in their past seven – a run stretching back to 2013.
There were a couple of wins during their Championship-winning season two years ago but the last in the top flight was six years ago.
All those defeats since have been away, so the Toon will be feeling less than confident despite their recent back-toback wins over Watford and Bournemouth.
“Records are there to be broken so we have to change that,” said manager Benitez.
“We will score in this one and we will win. That’s it. We will change the stats. They are there to be changed.”
Benitez has countless tales of the superstitious habits he witnessed during his time in charge of Napoli but he refuses to be concerned with historical baggage.
“The record is there but it doesn’t matter,” he said. “You change the manager, you change the players, you change the environment, the league, you change everything.
“How many of these players were at that first game when they lost? How many of the Burnley players were playing?”
Recalling his days in Serie A, Benitez said: “In Italy in general, and Napoli especially, there were a lot of superstitions about things. Everything was like, ‘Don’t do this because we lost’, or ‘We have to wear this because we won’, and in the end you didn’t know what to wear.
“There was a circle we were doing, holding hands in the dressing room because the chairman wanted to do it before the games. We did a circle and we won so we carried on. But I am not superstitious. You have to concentrate on your job.”
Burnley are looking for just their third league win this season and manager Sean Dyche says every club outside the ‘big six’ are involved in the fight to stay in the top flight.
“Anyone outside of that will have to work for the points,” said Dyche. “Bournemouth have had a great start and they might end up in the top six but you think Manchester United will find a way.
“Watford have had a great start but over a season it is very tough. Last season was a fine one for us but we still had a spell of 11 games without a win. That can happen.
“It’s very difficult. Outside the big six, everyone is fighting, everyone wants the points and to continue being in the Premier League. There used to be a thinking that there were three divisions within the division but I think it is now the big six and the rest.” REPORTS