RAFA BENITEZ claims that Newcastle United have to learn to manage crucial periods in games better after watching his side crash out of the Carabao Cup to Nottingham Forest for the second year in a row.

Despite Salomon Rondon pulling the Magpies level with their first shot on target in the second minute of stoppage-time at the City Ground, Forest instantly responded with two further goals to progress and take their place in tonight's draw for the third round.

To make matters worse for Newcastle, seconds after Matty Cash had put Forest ahead again, Ayoze Perez had a clear penalty shout waved away by referee Jeremy Simpson when goalkeeper Luke Steele wiped him out in the area.

Forest then went down the other end again and added a third through Gil Dias, leaving Benitez and his team-mates having to stop Perez from remonstrating with the officials after the final whistle was blown.

Benitez said: “The positive thing for me is you could see the reaction from the team and we have to manage the situation better. The decisions weren’t in our favour and it was difficult to take.

“A lot of players seem to do well in terms of effort, some of them didn’t have too much fitness but they were working hard, it was a question of managing the final minutes better. We didn’t do that well. After the penalty appeal was so obvious, we have the feeling we deserved more.”

Benitez and Newcastle were also disappointed on Sunday when Fabian Schar was adjudged to have conceded a late penalty against Chelsea in the Premier League, which Eden Hazard converted.

He said: “It is not the first time this year and we have just had three games we were disappointed with.

“It was a team that wanted to win and fight until the end and tried to win, they can say they did that and that, they didn’t have too many problems in defence and you could see it could be a draw.”

Benitez made seven changes to the team that lost to Chelsea but it was still a strong enough line-up to suggest they could reach the third round.

He said: “To win a competition with our squad will not be easy, my team selection was trying to win, nobody can complain about that. We were pushing and trying to win.

“With two or three injured we couldn’t take risks with some others, this team was still good enough to win and we know why we didn’t.

“We are disappointed, we lost the game, and even more disappointing was the way we lost. We conceded the early goal, they were not creating clear chances, we didn’t have clear chances either.

“We could see what happened at the end, the way you lose you have to be disappointed, it’s not the first time this year this has happened.

“The positive is that the striker scored a goal because it is good for confidence. The other day we had two shots on target and Chelsea had three. When you have chances you have to take them. One thing we have to improve is the final pass and creating chances.”

Despite Benitez feeling like there were positives, there were still disappointing performances. Kenedy, who has struggled to repeat last season’s form since returning from Chelsea, was particularly poor.

Benitez said: “The team is difficult when you have new players, the understanding, I tried him as a left full back and you expect he has to learn in different positions. Sean Longstaff and Jamie Sterry did well.

“Yoshinori Muto needs to learn it is a bit quicker in England, he was fine in terms of effort, there are situations where he needs to learn he needs to do things a little faster.”

Preparations for the trip to the City Ground included further claims of a rift within the dressing room over tactics. It was claimed that Jamaal Lascelles and Matt Ritchie had a heated row before the visit of Chelsea.

Benitez, though, has played those down. He said: “There are no big issues. In the game you want players competing and who care. There are things that can happen in the dressing room that can happen but the atmosphere is good.

“Jamaal was (training) outside today, I don’t know if Ritchie was outside, Javier Manquillo was outside. We have certain players who are injured. That happens.

“For Saturday against Manchester City there are doubts on Ritchie, Jamaal and Manquillo. There’s no chance for Jonjo Shelvey. Each one is different.”