Rafa Benitez seemed pleased with the performance of his players last night and we came away with a point in a 0-0 draw at Reading, but probably should have had all 3 points.
But Reading also had chances to win the game and given they hit the bar in the last few seconds of the game it could have been worse and we should probably be satisfied with the point.
That’s now 11 games without defeat since we lost at Blackburn on 2nd January and it includes seven wins.
Rafa Benitez – before the game last night
That’s also our first 0-0 draw of the season, the last game without a game being at Villa Park on 7th May last season.
This is what Rafa said last night to the local press when he was asked if he satisfied with 7 points from 9 over the last 8 days as reported in the Chronicle today:
“I think so. To go and play these three games away and get seven points is quite good and quite impressive from the players.”
“I am really pleased for the away fans. They go away with smiles on their faces.”
“We had enough chances to win it. The chances we had were so clear we could have won it in the end.”
“The way that they work and the confidence that they have is the key.”
“You can prepare any game plan and they have been very good in these three games.”
“They understand what they have to do to get a result.”
“It’s not the best pitch, that’s why we sometimes pressed high and sometimes waited.”
Next up are Fulham on Saturday and that will be Rafa’s one year anniversary in charge of the club.
Hopefully we can win that game to settle the nerves a little bit.
Comments welcome.
2 comments so far
Lindisfarne
Mar 8, 2017 at 7:28 AM
Comment #1Very difficult to judge individual performances, I think MOM should go to the fans.
Magtoonpie
Mar 8, 2017 at 7:42 AM
Comment #2We need to be ready to boycott Ashley wether we get promoted or not depending on how he treats Rafa. I also wonder who the next sponsor is and maybe they should be pressured if Rafa’s contract doesn’t get renewed with better terms and guarantees. We need to support those who support the team and turn on those who support themselves at NUFC’s expense. Hopefully it doesn’t come to this but hopefully January isn’t what the media made it seem. Hopefully Ashley has woken up if not then we will.