Newcastle fans are a little bit concerned at the moment after we have captured just one point in the last two league games and have seen Brighton and Norwich both gain 5 points on us in those two games.
And after last night’s games we have dropped to 9th place in the league, so a defeat tonight would not be good.
Newcastle expect the crowd tonight for a Wednesday night game to be around 50,000 for the visit of Norwich – that’s just amazing in England’s second division and hopefully the players can produce the goods and give us a win.
Rafa Benitez – confident of promotion
Newcastle fans may be a little concerned at the moment, but manager Rafa Benitez is not – this is what he has said about the current situation:
“Maybe the biggest rivals we face are ourselves. So we have to be sure that we do what we can do.”
“We have to perform at the level we know we can perform. We can beat anyone or we can lose to anyone because it is a difficult league.”
“But if we do what we have to do we will get stronger and stronger and at the end of the season we will be at the top. Obviously you respect your rivals.”
“But the main thing is we have the potential. Play to maximum, sometimes you draw or lose, but at the end you’ll be at the top of the table.”
“You see me and how old I am. I have had this at a lot of clubs. The fans celebrate if they win three games, and then you lose one and it is a disaster.” (of course)
“Managing expectations is something we have to do. That is why I am so consistent with the message. We have a fantastic group of fans and we are strong and a big club and we want to be at the top.”
“It is not easy to manage when something is wrong for one or two weeks – it is not easy to manage when everything is fine.”
“Our responsibility is to continue with the same message. We are pleased with our fans and they will be a key part of our success.”
“We will keep saying it is a difficult league, we have to be consistent for nine months. You have so many games to play you can’t get carried away.”
Huddersfield Town are back on top with 22 points and Newcastle are 6 points behind – if we win tonight we will go into 3rd place and that would be good.
Huddersfield are the surprise team this season so far and they beat Rotherham United 2-1 at home last night – a team we play on Saturday on the road.
Most fans expect us to win tonight.
Comments welcome.
4 comments so far
Tsunki
Sep 28, 2016 at 8:35 AM
Comment #1Draw. I’ve voted that every game. On average it’s working out ok
Jib
Sep 28, 2016 at 8:39 AM
Comment #2If we win we go 3rd
If we draw we go 4th.
The priority has to be not to lose.
Personally – if offered the draw now I’d take it !
lesh
Sep 28, 2016 at 8:44 AM
Comment #3Referring to the previous thread, I read Perez’s quotes in paras four and six, as ‘I may be interested if an offer comes in from a (my words) bigger club. He hasn’t exactly commited himself for life.
However, it’s up to Ashley decide whether they want to make Newcastle United into a ‘bigger club’, a major force in Europe.
dannitoon
Sep 28, 2016 at 5:09 PM
Comment #4FFS who are these fans who are gobbing waffle.. we are 9 games in… you dont get promoted after 10 games… slagging off players, questioning rafa’s tactics..morons…. are you never happy…its embarrssing