RAFA BENITEZ has revealed Jonjo Shelvey has apologised to his Newcastle United team-mates for the stamp on Dele Alli which effectively gifted victory to Tottenham at St James’ Park.

The Magpies had worked hard to keep Tottenham at bay for 48 minutes and even had their moments to score themselves, but Shelvey’s woeful judgement cost them dearly.

The former Swansea midfielder, who has courted controversy on a couple of occasions since his arrival, deliberately stamped on Alli when the Spurs midfielder sat on the floor claiming he had been fouled.

Referee Andre Marriner issued the red card straightaway and he will serve a three-match ban, while Newcastle have also been rocked by the news Paul Dummett and £8.7m buy Florian Lejeune are set to be sidelined through injury.

Benitez – whose side then went on to concede goals by Alli and Been Davies - and was clearly frustrated but he thinks everyone has to move on as quickly as possible because Shelvey was quick to admit his actions were wrong.

Asked if Benitez felt let down by the player’s actions, Benitez said: “It’s not me, it’s everyone. We have talked about that for a while (in the dressing room).

“He knows he has made a mistake and he apologised in the dressing room. But we lost the game, so …

“The rules are the rules and we made a mistake. We have to analyse everything. We can’t change anything now. We move forward and we think about solutions. He apologised to everyone afterwards.”

While Benitez was disappointed with Shelvey, he also suggested there should also have been another dismissal. Harry Kane’s strong tackle on Lejeune left the French defender wearing a protective boot when he left St James’.

Benitez said: “I would also like to say that the tackle from behind from Harry Kane was worse, the rules are the rules, and we paid for that.

“I said it was worse (Kane’s) because I had to change one player. Yes (it was a scissor challenge). Watching the replay again from the bench in front of the fourth official, it was a surprise (he wasn’t sent off).”

Benitez, who also indicated that it is ‘too early’ to decide whether Shelvey should carry on as captain, had been encouraged by aspects of Newcastle’s display.

He said: “I was happy with the effort of the players, there were a lot of positives but still if you want to win games then we can’t lose our focus for one minute.

“We know now we are in the Premier League and we have to do everything really well if we want to win games. All the effort we put in on the pitch was lost because we did one mistake.”

Shelvey’s suspension and the injuries to Dummett and Lejeune heighten the need for Newcastle to bring in more new players, although Benitez was keen to stress that they have needed the fresh faces regardless.

Benitez, who has been linked with Arsenal midfielder Jack Wilshere as well as forward Lucas Perez, said: “It’s the same situation as before. It doesn’t change too much. We know what we need and we know what we have to do. I don’t know if anything is close.

“There were a lot of positives there for all the players after this game. I am not happy with the performance because we have lost but they put in effort until the end. The players were pushing and trying their best. That is the positive thing.”

He also revealed that Dwight Gayle was merely taken off as a precautionary measure in the second half because he has a lack of striker options.