Rafa: Transfer window’s history and we must focus on football

Chief sports writer RAFA Benitez wants to draw a line under any talk of missed opportunities in the summer transfer window.

The Newcastle United manager watched on as his side were beaten 1-0 by Brighton at the Amex Stadium.

However, after the game one talking point was the fact that United would have taken something out of the game had they signed a proven Premier League goalscorer last month.

Benitez, speaking in his post-game Press conference, said: “I think we are more focused on football now.

“That is the way when you have finished the transfer window and you can concentrate just on football. We are trying to do that. In these kind of games, we can see that we are still short in some areas, but when we do well as a team we can compete and beat anyone.

“These small margins are the key for us if we are going to get points in these kind of games.”

Benitez felt his side were unfortunate not to take something out of the game against the Seagulls.

He said afterwards: “I think we deserved to pick up at least one point, but we didn’t do it.

“We didn’t manage the final 20 minutes in the way I was expecting, and that is something we have to improve. “It could be like this for us. “We know we have to depend on our team work to have chances to get points.”