UK Edition
Same old story for Rafa Benitez and Newcastle as limited team miss chance to move clear of drop zone
Opportunities are being missed at Newcastle United. On the pitch they are failing to take them. In the board room they seem intent on refusing them and all supporters can do is rue them.
Newcastle had enough clear chances to beat Swansea easily, but instead ending up scrambling to secure a point that was not enough to pull clear of the relegation battle.
Had Rafa Benitez’s side beaten the Premier League’s bottom team, they would have climbed into the relative safety of mid-table, putting seven or eight clubs between themselves and the drop zone. There would have been breathing space. Instead, they remain just three points clear and, without a league win at home since October, will continue to fret.
This story was played out against a backdrop of misinformation and mistrust emanating from the boardroom. Nobody seems to want to sign the players Benitez has requested this month, but no one appears to be able to explain why either.
The squad needs to be strengthened, everybody can see it, but that does not mean it is going to happen. It is a mystery to all those who follow Mike Ashley’s dysfunctional football club.
Ashley willingly gave Benitez control of the football side of the business almost two years ago, but everyone else employed by this muddled billionaire appears to want to question the Spaniard’s judgment. It is nonsensical to the point of self-harm.
Perhaps it can be partly explained by the fact Ashley still wants to sell the club, except he is no closer to doing so now than he was in the autumn. A takeover is supposedly still being negotiated with Amanda Staveley, but there has been so little progress over the last few weeks that we are surely at the point where those negotiations are on the brink of collapse.
Whose fault is that? It is impossible to tell because nobody will put their name to anything when it comes to leaking information. Staveley’s camp will blame Ashley, but club sources insist she is responsible for failing to make an acceptable bid.
As for the team, they continue to give everything they have, but their limitations are obvious. They are crying out for a new striker, a winger and a goalkeeper, but may end up with none of the above.
Benitez picked the same starting XI against Swansea that won promotion from the Championship. He may have been making a point, but those above him will also point out that the signings he made in the summer were all sitting on the bench. Why trust him to make better ones in January?
“It tells everybody where we are,” said Benitez. “We are in the Premier League and we have a lot of players giving everything, but still sometimes it is not enough. You could see in the first half that we had chances.”
Dwight Gayle – who could have had a hat-trick, Paul Dummett and Ayoze Perez missed them, though, while Jordan Ayew took his and Swansea could have scored a winner had DeAndre Yedlin not cleared Wilfried Bony’s effort off the line. In the end, Joselu’s strike salvaged a point for the Magpies.
“I am very happy the players are not pleased with a point,” said Swansea manager Carlos Carvalhal. “Because it means they fight for three points and they want three points.
“I would not be happy if I got there and they are celebrating a point. It means they know their responsibility, they know what we want. This is something positive in my opinion.”