What has Rafael Benitez done to give Newcastle United a fighting chance of survival?

Whereas the Spaniard’s first four games in charge brought just a solitary point, his last three have seen the Magpies claim five. Given that Liverpool and Manchester City were the opponents for two of those last three matches, that is quite an achievement.

It might be too little, too late, with Newcastle still a point behind Norwich City and Sunderland despite having played a game more than both of their relegation rivals, but with their next two games pitting them against Crystal Palace and Aston Villa, Benitez’s side now boast a realistic chance of survival.

So what has the Spaniard done to improve things? And will the changes be sufficient to keep Newcastle in the Premier League?

Axed big-name players

It took Benitez three or four games to properly assess what he had at his disposal, but when he decided to wield the axe, his actions were decisive.

Georginio Wijnaldum and Jonjo Shelvey were the highest-profile victims of Benitez’s cull, with the former paying the price for a series of disinterested displays in the second half of the season and the latter finding himself dumped to the bench after Steve McClaren’s ill-advised decision to hand the midfielder the captain’s armband was quickly shelved.

Fabricio Coloccini has not made a single appearance under Benitez, and while the Argentinian continues to struggle with a calf injury, you suspect he would not be selected for the first team even if he was to announce himself fit in the next three weeks. His attitude to date hardly ties in with Benitez’s improved team ethic.

McClaren was always extremely reluctant to damage the biggest egos in his squad, but Benitez has proved less deferential. Having started the season working with the likes of Sergio Ramos and Cristiano Ronaldo, perhaps he has concluded that Newcastle’s ‘big names’ are not really all that big after all.

Stuck with a settled back four

Defensive injuries have been a major issue all season, and Benitez himself concedes it is no coincidence that Newcastle’s recent improvement has occurred at the same time as Paul Dummett has returned to the team.

Suddenly, the Magpies have a left-back who is used to playing in the position rather than a midfielder who has been parachuted into the role. January’s failure to recruit some proven left-back cover has proved an extremely costly mistake.

However, even accounting for Dummett’s return to fitness, Benitez’s decision to drop Steven Taylor and pair Jamaal Lascelles with Chancel Mbemba also proved a major factor in improving Newcastle’s fortunes.

Lascelles has revelled in the added responsibility and assumed a senior leadership role, while Mbemba looks much more comfortable without the error-prone Taylor alongside him.

Fielded Cheick Tiote in front of the back four to provide added protection

It might not sound like much of a change, but the shift from a 4-2-3-1 formation to much more of a 4-1-4-1 system in the last few games has made Newcastle significantly more solid.

Cheick Tiote has been the key to the shift, and the Ivory Coast international has clearly been instructed not to stray from his position directly in front of the back four. In fact, there have been times in the last three matches when Tiote has effectively been playing as a third centre-half.

Under McClaren, Newcastle tended to play with Shelvey alongside either Jack Colback or Vurnon Anita, but none of the trio were disciplined enough to adequately protect a backline that was repeatedly exposed.

The Manchester City game in particular saw the Magpies keep things much tighter than they had managed for the majority of the campaign, and Tiote, a player who would have been sold by McClaren had Shanghai Shenhua not balked at his wages in January, has become an integral part of Benitez’s preferred XI.

Settled on Moussa Sissoko as the leader of his squad

When Benitez was looking for a new talisman a month or so ago, Sissoko was one of the least likely candidates. The Frenchman hadn’t scored a single goal all season, had been shuffled here, there and everywhere in an attempt to find him a place in the team, and seemed to lack any kind of stomach for a relegation fight.

Fast forward a few weeks, however, and he is the driving force behind Newcastle’s survival bid, with the decision to hand him the captain’s armband looking like a masterstroke.

Primarily because of his influence amongst the French-speaking members of the Magpies squad, Benitez quickly identified Sissoko as a key dressing-room presence. For all that the midfielder had under-performed on the pitch in the first seven months of the season, the Newcastle boss has also been hugely impressed with his new skipper’s attitude in training.

Crucially, though, he also saw in Sissoko a creative force capable of providing the kind of attacking drive that has been lacking in so much of Newcastle’s play this season. The Frenchman responded with his first goal of the campaign against Swansea and was influential again as Newcastle overhauled a two-goal deficit to draw with Liverpool last weekend.

Got the fans back onside

Of all the things Benitez has achieved in the last month or so, repairing the bond between the team on the pitch and the fans in the stands has been the most important.

When McClaren was dismissed, disillusionment was entrenched. The vast majority of supporters regarded relegation as a given, and deep down, most probably felt it was what Newcastle’s players and management deserved.

Benitez, with his reaffirmation of Newcastle’s status as one of the biggest clubs in the country and regular talk of the potential for a better future if survival can be attained, has persuaded the supporters to start believing again.

The atmosphere at matches has been transformed, and with performances on the pitch improving, the players have won back at least some of the fans’ trust. If Newcastle are to be relegated next month, one of the biggest regrets is that demotion will occur at a time when so much else at the club is taking a turn for the better.