Rafa Benitez seemed happy enough with the 1-1 draw and the five-day warm weather break in Murcia, southeast Spain.
Rafa had the players put in double shifts on Wednesday and Thursday and had a team dinner on Thursday night, so it seems to have been really worthwhile.
One thing you know with Rafa is he gets down to some hard work in training – and he loves coaching the players.
Newcastle drew 1-1 with CSKA Moscow today and we did miss a number of good chances but at least we are creating them.
Both new boys Almiron and Barreca started this game, and Almiron had some excellent touches throughout.
He also has speed to burn so we see why Rafa had wanted him for 18 months before we finally signed him last month.
Rafa Benitez – before the game today
These are some of the comments Rafa made after the game:
“To give players minutes in an official game is great for us. It has been a good week for us.”
“There’s a good atmosphere in the squad and everybody knows how crucial that will be.”
“The players will get a couple of days off and then it’s back to start work for Huddersfield.”
Next Saturday we play Huddersfield Town at home, and we’ll have to win that game against the bottom side in the Premier League.
Then we have Burnley the following Wednesday – two wins in those games, and we should be on our way to safety this season.
Comments welcome.
15 comments so far
Tsunki
Feb 16, 2019 at 2:31 PM
Comment #1Yes after getting off a transatlantic flight, being shown where the men’s bogs are, running on for ten minutes against wolves, getting on another plane to Spain and another 45 minutes of injury avoiding training kickabout in a hastily cobbled side we should definitely write Almiron off. He had his chance and blew it. What a waste of money. 😀
Tsunki
Feb 16, 2019 at 2:33 PM
Comment #2Without casually being insulting and in all seriousness, “ilovetoon88” is pretty certainly a s&#@erland supporter isn’t he?
Jib
Feb 16, 2019 at 2:37 PM
Comment #3sin duda
DaveD1000
Feb 16, 2019 at 3:04 PM
Comment #4Sin Duda only got a start because he is Spanish
Charlie in the Gallowgate
Feb 16, 2019 at 3:06 PM
Comment #5What happened in the Rotherham Sheff Wed game????
12 minutes extra
geordietom
Feb 16, 2019 at 3:32 PM
Comment #6i’d rather Almiron turned it on for the Huddersfield game …
rather going full out on a friendly that means nowt apart from a bit of bonding and warm weather training …
dont want him getting hurt we have some big games coming up …
he’ll click sooner rather than later…
beermonkey
Feb 16, 2019 at 4:18 PM
Comment #7was there a complete change of footballers at half time
Jib
Feb 16, 2019 at 4:41 PM
Comment #8Ivan Toney just scored his 19th goal of the season for the Posh
beermonkey
Feb 16, 2019 at 4:53 PM
Comment #9jib
did we sell him
Jib
Feb 16, 2019 at 4:56 PM
Comment #10Aye
Jib
Feb 16, 2019 at 4:56 PM
Comment #11650K
beermonkey
Feb 16, 2019 at 5:02 PM
Comment #12hope there is a sell on clause
Jail for Ashley
Feb 16, 2019 at 5:07 PM
Comment #13But Munster fairs fair, you criticised that crap Scottish bloke we chased all summer without knowing the first thing about him or evidently how long we did actually chase him for.
Jib
Feb 16, 2019 at 5:17 PM
Comment #14Newport County should do OK
Guardiola has left Aguero out
the squad
😛
Munster Mag
Feb 16, 2019 at 6:49 PM
Comment #15Wrong again jail. We chased him for weeks and haggled like hell. How many games did he play? Not many. Not the best business ever. Certainly not a very useful purchase as he clearly wasn’t good enough for us. Even in your topsey turvy world.