Rafa Benitez has confirmed that both Matt Ritchie and Jonjo Shelvey are out of the game at Manchester City tomorrow but that Jamaal Lascelles is fit and ready to go.
And Rafa is quite confident about things although he says we knew the first five games would be tough when we have to face four of the top six clubs in the league.
Rafa Benitez – at his press conference
Here’s some of what Rafa has said in his press conference today:
“The owner is the owner and he is always welcome here. We are a professional club who are open to anyone. He can come here whenever he wants. We have no problems”
“In terms of injuries, Shelvey is out, so is Ritchie. But Lascelles is available. He is an important player but it’s good for the confidence that players are coming back”
“We have proved we were right last year. With the players we have and staff – we finished 10th.”
“We have to maximise what we have here.”
“We knew when we saw the fixtures it would be tough. What I have to do is make sure the team is strong enough generally.”
“As a manager you want professionals who care. Every year you have 2 or 3 situations because we have competitive professionals who want to win. I think it’s very positive”
“We know we had a complicated fixture list and it would be a difficult season. But we have to approach Manchester City n the best way possible.”
“With eleven vs eleven you never know. We don’t need to prove anything. We just need to do what we need to do to get 3 points, or 1 point”
“We’ve been quite good vs big teams. They have top-class players who can make the difference, so everything has to be perfect if we want a result.”
“You have to have ambition, but you have to be realistic. If we want to stay in the PL we have to manage expectations”
Rafa is trying to set the expectations there, and we may even lose the next two games against Manchester City and Arsenal, but we have to stay upbeat – we can start winning games soon after these games – if we do lose both of them.
It’s a very tough start to the season for Newcastle regarding the level of the opposition.
Let’s keep the faith.
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14 comments so far
Jail for Ashley
Aug 31, 2018 at 2:05 PM
Comment #1It would have been so much more fun if he’d said of course the fat greedy footer isn’t welcome
😀
RobLeenio
Aug 31, 2018 at 2:08 PM
Comment #2Do we really think Rafa said “#mcfc”
😉
The overrated Frenchman
Aug 31, 2018 at 2:11 PM
Comment #3Has there been some suggestion that Ashley might attend training because of the friction that has been reported? Like a headmaster coming into an unruly classroom…
Oldgit1
Aug 31, 2018 at 2:18 PM
Comment #4Can’t we send out an invitation to Ashley to join our blog. I’m sure he will be welcome.
Ron Knee
Aug 31, 2018 at 2:21 PM
Comment #5“Matt Ritchie and Jonjo Shelvey are out …”
Bad news.
Munster Mag
Aug 31, 2018 at 2:21 PM
Comment #6Good press conf but I’d rather know why we were so lethargic and uncommitted to attack v Cardiff and Forest. The sooner Ashley gets to the training the better. But it would be far better if someone brought him to most other clubs to see their level of facilities
Mister Tuff
Aug 31, 2018 at 2:24 PM
Comment #7Rob Leenio – not sure if your thoughts of a training ground Utopia or a St James Park Shangri-la are down to a youthful naivety with a touch of Mother Teresa thrown in for good measure or a belief that all folk really can be good and decent people.
The fact is that there are some evil/bad/false/deceptive people who also live here and whose ideals may not be the ones you desire them to be.
Mister Tuff
Aug 31, 2018 at 2:25 PM
Comment #8Anyway jobs to do!
Munster Mag
Aug 31, 2018 at 2:25 PM
Comment #9Matt Richie is a big Big loss Ron. Need his aggression. Ksy would help if he could have a decent game but he has looked every bit a £0m signing so far. Surely he has more, might take time
TyneMouth
Aug 31, 2018 at 2:28 PM
Comment #10Statistic of the day;
The number of ‘views’ of this blog since 2007 passed the 190 million mark today!
Congratulations Ed, well done bonny lad…
190,000,000 is remarkable, the equivalent of almost three times the total population of the UK.
(Be careful what you post folks, there are a lot of people reading!).just sayin’…
Ron Knee
Aug 31, 2018 at 2:28 PM
Comment #11Munster
Yes, agree about Ritchie.
RobLeenio
Aug 31, 2018 at 2:29 PM
Comment #12Mister Tuff “not sure if your thoughts of a training ground Utopia or a St James Park Shangri-la are down to a youthful naivety with a touch of Mother Teresa thrown in for good measure or a belief that all folk really can be good and decent people”
Neither of the above, more like desperation!
Rob1971
Aug 31, 2018 at 2:33 PM
Comment #13For once a bit of sense from Michael Owen “Newcastle. United were roundly criticised for their ultra-cautious approach at home to Chelsea on Sunday, but they did only lose out to a contentious penalty and a late own goal.
“Would we be having the same debate if United had nicked a point against a very good Chelsea side? Very small margins.”
The answer is of course we wouldn’t, if we had got a point the vast majority on here would have been happy with that.
ronaldo aarons
Aug 31, 2018 at 2:35 PM
Comment #14I guess if Ashley were to come to training, have a chat with Rafa and the players over cups of tea, we would finally see lee charnley excelling in his element! Numerous teas on the go, sugar here, milk there, opening packs of biscuits like a boss!