Rafa Benitez says he is happy with his sides approach to the game but disappointed with the result following his sides defeat against Liverpool at Anfield.

Speaking to the media following the game, Benitez said: “I’m not happy, I don’t like to lose. The game plan is good for forty minutes but it has to be good for ninety minutes. We did well, we were defending well. We have to be more dangerous on the counter-attack.

“To start the second half, there was another mistake and we have the goal away again and we concede a second goal. We had to change things to be more offensive and then we were open and exposed.”

The former Liverpool boss continued: “We had two or three chances on the counter-attack. I am happy with the approach of the team, with the way we play but unhappy with the result.”

“We knew that they were dangerous,” Benitez added. “They press quickly so we knew have to be careful of that and do the right things but we can’t guarantee we won’t make mistakes.”

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Battle at the bottom

The defeat means that Benitez’s side only hold a two-point gap above the drop zone with Crystal Palace not yet playing this weekend.

If the Eagles win against Manchester United on Monday night, the Magpies would find themselves in the Premier League bottom three.

However, Newcastle have games against relegation rivals coming up and they’ll be targeting points there.

When quizzed about needing to win those games, Benitez answered: “Yeah, but still we come here trying to get points. It doesn’t matter against which teams but the reality is we have to win games and then Southampton is a very dangerous team, people think they are struggling but it’s a very good team.”

Huddersfield, we have seen they are very well organised,” he added.

“It will be difficult and in the end, we will have to show the same organisation we have shown in the first-half and the same experience we’ve shown in the whole season.”

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About the author
Connor Bennett
Everton editor for VAVEL UK - contributing since 2015. Premier League accredited journalist. Journalism graduate from Liverpool. Writing about Football, eSports and the NFL. Email: [email protected] | Twitter: ConnorBennett14