Benitez still confident Magpies will improve

The Magpies are now winless from their opening five league games and are already out of the Carabao Cup, with Benitez’s side sitting third from bottom after Saturday’s 2-1 defeat at home to Arsenal.

Newcastle will head to Crystal Palace on Saturday knowing a victory would be very well received ahead of Leicester’s visit to Tyneside. The supporters have continued to back Benitez and the players despite equalling the worst start to a season since 1999-00 when Ruud Gullit was sacked – and the Spaniard hopes that continues.

Newcastle fans are renowned for demanding results, but there is an acceptance that they have faced Tottenham, Chelsea, Manchester City and now the Gunners in the opening six weeks of the season.

“I will tell you that I agree with you in the past. But now I think the fans realise why we are where we are and then our position,” said Benitez.  “I don’t think the players have to be worried about pressure, because the fans have been really good.  “They are clever enough to know the best way possible to go forward is to continue supporting the team, and if the players work hard like in the first-half that’s something the fans will appreciate.

“It’s very clear, Newcastle - United. When we are united we are stronger and it’s just the only way for us.”

Supporters appreciate that Benitez didn’t get the level of investment he was hoping for during the summer transfer window, when Newcastle actually made a profit.

There was a further protest outside St James’ Park against Mike Ashley’s running of the club before the visit of Arsenal and the occasional derogatory chant inside directed at him from the stands.

Benitez, who has entered the final nine months of his contract and has no intention to sign an extension in the current climate, is now only concerned about turning Newcastle around knowing he can’t tinker with his squad until January.

He said: “To be fair we were thinking it could be something like that when you look at the games we had. At the same time, we knew we could be better in some of the games.  “It’s a little bit disappointing when you are so close in some games and you cannot get what you want, but the reality is that we’ve played five of the top six sides in the league.  “And to be where we are may not be a surprise for a lot of people. But for us we know it’s difficult, but we still have to carry on.

“The fixtures is something you cannot control. All you can do is just be sure that when you approach the games you have the belief and the confidence to get something. That is the point.  “The disappointment is because we were so close, against Tottenham and even Chelsea, so we have to manage these situations a little bit better. We will be a better team and get points against other teams.”

Clearly the confidence within the ranks will have taken a hit after losing four of their opening five league games and the failure to win at Cardiff last month didn’t help either.

But Benitez maintains he is not worried. He thinks that things can soon take a turn for the better, drawing on the experience of last season when Newcastle finished tenth.

He said: “It’s not a question of confidence … you know the other team is very strong, so with all of the hard work we did in the first-half to concede so early … and then to concede the second goal also, just a few minutes later. It’s quite difficult to manage. We need to improve managing the game.

“Obviously we have to start winning soon because that will give us more confidence. But I don’t see a massive difference between teams. Obviously, the top six, you can say, ‘yes, fine’. But for the others it was just one goal.

“We have a similar level of confidence still. Because we were expecting a difficult game against Arsenal, but the first-half was very positive and the second was something that can happen against top sides with so much quality.  “It’s all very similar. It is a time to stay calm, and to see what you are doing right, and what you have to do to improve.”

Benitez’s side will only have a point to their name when they head for Selhurst Park on Saturday, but he will not be looking at the table too closely just yet.

He added: “I will keep an eye but I will not spend too much time looking. I knew that it could be like that, so it’s a question of making sure that everybody understands that, and then we have to move forward quickly, and mentally we have to approach the next training session thinking — OK — we need to improve this, this and that.”  While Newcastle continue to struggle to deliver the results to get them out of trouble, Arsenal made it three wins from three to climb up to seventh in the table.

Unai Emery is in the process of changing the way Arsenal operate following Arsene Wenger’s departure and he was indebted to Granit Xhaka’s stunning free-kick that opened the scoring in the 49th minute.

Ten minutes later Mesut Ozil added a second to mark his 200th appearance for Arsenal in perfect manner.  The German international said: “Really, 200? I’m happy but most important we take the three points. Congratulations to the whole team, we played well. Newcastle were good, aggressive. We showed our passion and took the points.

“I am very happy to play for Arsenal and especially for the new coach. He knows what he wants and the team accepts that, we have a good relationship. We score and we are happy, even the players that don’t play, we are all team.”