Newcastle manager Rafa Benitez believes that uncharacteristic defensive mistakes have been behind the Magpies’ poor recent run of results.
The Championship’s top goalscorer Chris Wood was left unmarked to equalise for Leeds in the 1-1 draw on Friday night, while errors from Matt Ritchie for Freddie Sears’ first goal for Ipswich, and captain Jamaal Lascelles for the second, led to the Newcastle losing 3-1 yesterday afternoon.
Asked to explain the club’s recent drop of form, Benitez says the mistakes that the team are making at the back were not happening earlier on in the season. He told the Shields Gazette:
“We are making some mistakes, and we are paying for that. To be fair, in both of the last two away games, we have been punished for our mistakes. That is it. They are mistakes that we were not normally making. When we played at home (against Leeds), we had so many chance to win, but then we made another mistake and conceded. We have to learn from that.”
Newcastle will have to cut out those mistakes out fast if they are to ensure they comfortably secure the second automatic promotion spot. Huddersfield Town’s 1-1 draw against Derby County eased the pressure slightly but the Terriers can still get to 90 points, which means five points are still required by the Magpies to make sure of an instant return to the top flight.
