Lascelles: Nobody can question Rafa Benitez

Greater pressure is slowly starting to mount on Benitez on Tyneside following a fifth home defeat in a row which has left them propping up the rest of the Premier League.

Beram Kayal’s 29th minute winner means that Newcastle have now not won any of their opening nine games and that is something that no previous Magpies manager has endured before in the Premier League.

The presence of Mike Ashley, the Newcastle owner, in the stands for the last four matches has coincided with speculation about takeovers and a possible change of manager. Only last weekend Celtic’s Brendan Rodgers was linked with the post.

Benitez, whose contract runs out at the end of the season, does not fear the sack and he still has the majority of the supporters’ sympathy because of a lack of investment in his squad during the last couple of transfer windows.

But for the second game in a row at St James’ Park, one of Benitez’s substitute decisions was booed by fans in a noticeable shift – and there is certainly increased criticism of some of his tactics.

Lascelles himself is known to have previously questioned Newcastle’s defensive approach and raised that with his boss. The defender, though, claims to be fully supportive of the Spaniard.

Lascelles said: “I don’t think anyone in the stadium can question the manager about anything. Whether it’s to do with substitutions, tactics or whatever - they can’t question the manager, because he knows football better than anyone in this whole stadium.

“People might say he should have brought this or that player on, but he’s done it at the top level and won trophies, so he knows.  “He wants us to play a certain way and if we can’t do that as players, it’s down to us. But the gaffer can only deal with what he’s got.  “As players we’ve got to take responsibility ourselves. We cross the white line and so it’s down to us. We have to get together and talk about it because we need to be more clinical in the box.”

Lascelles believes that dealing with the frustrations of a poor run is “part and parcel of being a footballer” but he knows this malaise can’t continue or Newcastle will be dropping into the Championship for a third time in ten years.

The situation is a far cry from the second half of last season when he was part of a squad that ended up finishing tenth; a position many hoped would be improved on this time around.

However, the lack of spending and the negative vibes that brought during the summer and the opening weeks of the season, appears to have had an effect on performances and results.  When Lascelles was asked if it was difficult for the whole club to find motivation this season, he said: “I don’t feel like that. The season where we did get relegated, I don’t want to talk about because we’re way off that, but the feeling then was completely different to how it is now.  “We’ve got a squad of players who care and it hurts them when we lose. They aren’t players who aren’t bothered - that’s the difference.  “We will keep going and soon we’ll start our season properly. We’re playing good football, it’s just not happening for us. That will change.”

Newcastle are already three points adrift of safety after nine matches and will head to Southampton on Saturday knowing that is another opportunity to give the fight for survival a lift.

Lascelles said: “Everybody is looking at each other, trying to find the answer. We don’t quite have it at the moment. But we have to stay together as a team, do the fundamentals right in training, listen to the manager and next time we have a chance to win a game, grab it with both hands.  “People are just waiting for someone to win a game for us and it will happen. There’s no panic, it’s just about getting that first win.”

Last season Newcastle also went nine games without a win but the difference was that was between the end of October and mid-December, having started their first season back in the Premier League quite promisingly.

However, that experience of dropping into the relegation zone remains with the majority of this squad and Lascelles will be doing his best to draw on that.

He said: “I’ve not had to remind anybody about that. Everyone knows. Halfway through the season we were in the bottom three, we turned it around and finished tenth.  “Crystal Palace had an awful start too and finished well. There’s really nothing to panic about. We’ve played five or six of the top teams, we got a draw at Cardiff and Palace and I thought we were miles the better team against Brighton. There are definitely positives and there’s no need to panic.

“It’s definitely frustrating for us as players. They didn’t have much more other than the goal they scored from a corner which should have been a goal kick. We had all the chances. They had one chance and had all three points. We should have defended the corner better but we shouldn’t have been in that position in the first place.”

Lascelles has been struggling himself to find the sort of form that made Champions League clubs take notice and for Newcastle to place a £50m price-tag on him. He is, though, not the only one failing to impress – and the run of five home defeats is something new to Magpies players.  “Everybody knew we had a tough start,” said Lascelles. “Those games were always going to be difficult but we should have done better against Brighton. Leicester were champions a couple of years ago and that was a difficult game.  “We’ve had some really tough home games but we have to stick together, keep going and take all the positives we can into Southampton next week.  “We have to get something from that game. We’ve played Southampton before and done quite well against them. In the Premier League, it’s about who turns up on the day. We have to rediscover the mentality we had last year and take it into that game.  “In pretty much every game we’ve played bar Leicester we’ve played some decent football and things haven’t gone our way. One result, one win and we can really start our season properly.  “It’s just working out how we do that because at the moment we’re a little way off that. There’s no reason to panic. We have loads of positives to take from that game, like all the chances we created.”