Benitez Insists Magpies Have Enough Quality to Avoid Relegation But Unsure of Club's January Plans
Newcastle United manager believes his side are good enough to survive in the Premier League. The Magpies lost their fifth game in six matches on Saturday as Chelsea's superiority and extra quality eventually told in a 3-1 defeat at Stamford Bridge.
After facing all the current top four in recent weeks, their job does not get any easier with visits of ever improving Leicester City and Everton to St James' Park.
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Reported by Chronicle Live, the hope is that a takeover by Amanda Staveley is brokered prior to the winter transfer window commencing, but the Spaniard insists there is enough quality within the current squad to maintain their Premier League status this season even if the deal is not completed in time.
Benitez said: "We have to improve, but yeah, to stay up I think (we have the quality). To stay up, I think so. But when people talk about these games, this is the Premier League. We know we have to improve a lot of things, but still we will be a team in the bottom half of the table.
“We have to keep working harder. We knew from day one that we will be in the bottom half of the league. It’s not a surprise to anyone.”
Newcastle fought and competed well against the Premier League champions in front of their army of loyal supporters, but the combination of individual mistakes and the gulf in class between two sides were the deciding factors.
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Benitez added: “Nobody was expecting that we could do well here but we did well for a while. We were doing what we wanted to do for some minutes but it was the same as against Manchester United if you make one mistake and you concede, you have to carry on, but we made another mistake and conceded another goal."
Some indication by the club on the proposed takeover would certainly provide some impetus in going forwards for Newcastle United particularly during this phase of a testing season. It was put to Benitez that January would be a big month for him and his side. “I have no idea,” he said.
Asked to clarify he repeated: “I have no idea.” When asked whether that was because of the takeover he again repeated: “I have no idea.”
