Rafa Benitez has just completed his first conference for over two weeks for the game on Sunday afternoon against Leeds United at Elland Road.
There will be an expected crowd of close to 38,000 at the game and it’s a complete sellout.
This is an extremely tough game for us coming straight after the International break, with Leeds a team in form who last time out beat Norwich City 3-2 at Carrow Road.
Rafa Benitez – just completed his press conference for Leeds game
Here are some of the initial comments Rafa made about the Leeds United game – and we have taken them from the Newcastle United Twitter account and also from ChronicleLive in no particular order:
“The atmosphere in training has been fantastic – everyone has been working hard. I’m really pleased with everyone.”
“Always January is difficult but we are doing our job finding the right players. We don’t need too many, but we are looking”
“Stevie (Gerrard) is a fantastic player. He is one of the best I’ve ever had.” “He can do well if he follows that path into management with MK Dons.”
“Gary Speed was a good player for both clubs, a big name and someone who had the respect of everyone.”
“Garry Monk is a good manager, a young manager who is growing.”
“Jonjo Shelvey is OK to play.” “We are looking forward to it”
“I’m really disappointed about Rolando’s injury. It is really bad luck. He was working so hard to be ready.”
“There will be a lot of fans in the stadium, and it’s a massive game for everyone.”
The Mirror has reported today that Steven Gerrard has interviewed for the vacant manager job at MK Dons, so he may be thinking of a future management career.
Both sets of fans will honor the memory of Gary Speed with a minute’s applause after 11 minutes of the game – that’s the shirt number Gary wore for both Leeds United and Newcastle United.
There will be members of Gary’s family attending the game.
Gary lost his life on 27th November, 2011 when he was found hanged at his Cheshire home by his wife.
Three fans in five think we can win this game on Sunday.
What do you think?
Comments very welcome.
7 comments so far
Bobbybee
Nov 18, 2016 at 1:30 PM
Comment #1First post and miss the bus. I wonder how Leeds will handle a sell out crowd? Been a long time since they had one after all. Jason Cundy on talksport reckons Leeds are a bigger club than us, but can’t back it up. He despises us because, imo, he’s jealous to death of our support. They don’t get us in London. They can’t understand that we’re more than a football club to our fans, that it’s an extension of the entire area. It’s our pride and joy, win lose or draw. We’ll handle their so called atmosphere better than them because we play in front of one every other game. Bring it on.
bettyswallocks
Nov 18, 2016 at 1:31 PM
Comment #24bettyswallocks // Nov 18, 2016 at 1:30 PM
Monk is a poor manager. He took a top PL club in Sawansea who should be challenging for a Champions League spot every season and had them struggling at the bottom of the league. Even a top manager like Bob Bradley is struggling to get Swansea going again due to the damage done by Monk.
WWSBRD
Nov 18, 2016 at 1:36 PM
Comment #3Jail
Most people will tell u how good of a coach McClaren is doesnt make him a good manager. I think Swanseas demise started when they placed Monk in charge rather than bringing in an actual manager which they tried to rectify and help Monk in his development which he threw back in their faces
Swanseas have a good ownership for the most part (or certainly did when Monk was there not so sure now with the Americans coming in) which is why, imo, he had a good first season
Bobbybee
Nov 18, 2016 at 1:47 PM
Comment #4Would love to see Shelvey remind Monk just how good he is and why he should have persisted with him. Strange how Rafa is getting such a good tune out of him, whilst Monk struggled. I actually think Monk is doing a job for Leeds and maybe has found his level right now. You watch how fast these reappearing Leeds fans turn on the team if we get a couple of goals. Most of them will have bought new scarves and shirts for this game, as the moths will have damaged their old ones beyond repair, but given the time they’ve been tucked away. 🙂
bettyswallocks
Nov 18, 2016 at 1:58 PM
Comment #5Monk had all the ingredients at Swansea to make them into a PL winning team. He couldn’t bake the cake and now we are witnessing the demise of a truly fantastic club.
Bobbybee
Nov 18, 2016 at 2:04 PM
Comment #6Betty, looks like Welshie is getting to you my friend. 🙂 He’ll be over the moon to read that.
Essex Geordie Bill
Nov 18, 2016 at 2:10 PM
Comment #7Monk says he is determined to beat us, and?
He is hardly going to tell his players to go out saying let’s not try to beat them, same applies you would hope to any manager of any team in any league. Duuuh!
Doesn’t mean they are going to beat us, in fact they won’t.
I see that the voting on result has 970 thinking we will not win. O ye of little faith!!