Rafa Benitez has some work to do with his players this week and a lot of that work will be on the attitudes and temperaments of his players – it’s a mental thing that has shown Newcastle have a weakness this season when we play at home.
It seems the players become anxious when things do not well go well at home and a great example of that was last Saturday when Fulham overrun our midfield and scored three goals before we replied through the impressive Daryl Murphy after 75 minutes.
Rafa Benitez on the touchline last Saturday
But that was too late and we lost another 3 points at home.
Conceding three goals at home and losing last Saturday was a huge wake-up call for Newcastle as 3rd placed Huddersfield are now only 6 points behind us with a game in hand.
Away from home seems a different story for Newcastle and we play well and look very tough mentally.
So if we are not to fall away in these final 9 games of the season it’s important we go on a winning streak which means we have to be able to win at home as well as away from home.
Rafa has talked to the local press today and very simply puts what the Newcastle players have to do to be successful this season.
This is what he has said as reported in the Chronicle:
“The key now is to react as a team in the right way.”
“We have time to prepare for the next game to be ready physically and mentally for the Birmingham game.”
“We try to approach each game thinking about ourselves and to try to get three points, that’s it.”
“When you concede a goal at home and you know you have to perform then normally you have a little bit of pressure but it’s something we can manage.”
“The division does not surprise us now because we know.”
“We have to learn how to manage pressure if we want to stay at the top of the table.”
That’s pretty simple what our players have to do when things get tough.
If we can win on Saturday at Birmingham it will be a record 14th away win of the season.
The lads must win on Saturday and failure to do so will leave Newcastle fans on edge over the long two week International break – especially if Huddersfield win at Bristol City on Friday night.
Here’s hoping for a win – that’s all we ask for.
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