Assistant manager Moreno has been doing the press duties in the absence of Rafa Benitez, and even if Rafa does make the game and is on the touchline today for the game at Swansea, Moreno may continue to do the press interviews after the match.
Whether he does take the helicopter trip to Swansea from his home in the Wirral is Rafa’s decision, and we think he will make the trip if he’s had a relaxing two days since Friday morning.
It’s around 162 miles as the crow (helicopter?) flies from the Wirral to Swansea, so it’s not as short a trip as we first thought, just 30 miles less than the distance to Newcastle.
Moreno – relaxed at the press conference on Friday
This is what Moreno has been saying about the Newcastle manager and whether he thinks he will make the match today:
“It’s up to him, but yes, he is listening. Yesterday, he realized he was not in the condition that he thought.”
“Now I think he is calm, he is just analyzing things from behind and that’s it. He should be fine.”
“He wanted to come and the family obviously they said, ‘OK, it’s your health, you have to take care of yourself’ and we are trying to convince him.”
“The feedback we have from the surgeons and the medical staff is to take it easy and don’t take any risks.”
“I said to him, ‘Sometimes it is better to miss one game, if that has to happen, than three.'”
“Maybe he can join us and that would be great, and if it’s not the case, we will be fine for Swansea.”
“It will be Rafa’s decision, but also he is taking into consideration our feelings.”
“I think in this case even more because he hasn’t seen the players training and Rafa normally has this feeling for the momentum of everybody.”
“Because he doesn’t have this feeling before his eyes, he will, in this case, be more comfortable saying, ‘OK, what do you think?’ “
“And we will decide together.”
Whatever happens today hopefully Rafa will be back in business next week preparing the side for the home game against Stoke City on Saturday afternoon.
We may even hear from him on what he thought of that last day of the transfer window.
Maybe …..
Howay The Lads!!
Comments welcome.
3 comments so far
Bobbybee
Sep 10, 2017 at 8:31 AM
Comment #1No point taking any undue risks with his health. As much as I’d love him to be there, his health must take priority and getting excited at the game he might make it worse. It’s too easy to get carried away and make things worse.
Really looking forward to this game today. We can overtake Arsenal on gd with just a one nil win, which will do the players the world of good. Set us up nicely for next week’s home game against Stoke.
Bobbybee
Sep 10, 2017 at 8:47 AM
Comment #2Talking about Stoke, what price Joselu to score next week then? 🙂 No doubt Rafa has been inside his head gathering as much info on their tactics as he can already. He was there until after the season started so he’ll have plenty of useful info. Not that Hughes will ever better Rafa on the tactical front!
No doubt he’d love to score the winner next week, seeing Hughes hardly gave him a chance. Bit early to tell yet, but from what I witnessed of Jese yesterday, he’s hardly a huge upgrade. Looked out of his depth tbh. Still, like I say, early days yet.
toonincheek
Sep 10, 2017 at 9:08 AM
Comment #3162 miles by road.
Less by helicopter ‘cos it’s downhill.