Newcastle manager Rafa Benitez has said he understands that some fans may question his selection policy when certain players are not selected to start matches.
The Magpies boss says he believes the fact that he has more than eleven players at his disposal with similar ability means fans are bound to disagree with him on certain decisions. He told the Evening Chronicle:
“To be fair, we more or less know who are the best players, depending on the game. But the good thing that we have is that we do not just have 11. We have some players that are at a similar level.”
“The fans might sometimes say, ‘Why is he not playing this one’, but now we have a group of players where we have enough good players that you can pick one player ahead of another one and you will not see the difference. In the end, that is positive.”
One of Benitez’s biggest selection headaches ahead of the league match against Brentford at St James’ Park on Saturday is who to play up front. In recent matches he has favoured Mohamed Diame playing in a number 10 role behind lone striker Dwight Gayle but with Aleksandar Mitrovic’s exploits for his country after scoring two goals against Austria in a 3-2 win at the weekend, could it be time to switch back to two up top with the Serbian partnering Gayle to provide more cutting edge in the final third?
