Newcastle United manager Rafa Benitez has aimed a subtle dig at Fulham, claiming that expectations have not been met at Craven Cottage this season.
Fulham are already relegated from the Premier League despite spending over £100million in the summer transfer window, with £22million of that reportedly going to the Magpies for Aleksandar Mitrovic’s permanent switch to London.
Newcastle have not spent anywhere near that much money on transfers this season, yet find themselves 18 points ahead of Fulham and all but safe from relegation.
Benitez believes that some decent players went to the Cottage in the summer, and has suggested that they should have done better than they have.
“I think Fulham signed some good players but for some reason they didn’t do what people were expecting as a team,” said Benitez, as quoted by the Newcastle Chronicle.
“We can’t talk too much about them because they did what they did.
OPINION
It just goes to show that spending power doesn’t equal success. Fulham spent a ridiculous amount of money for a newly-promoted side last summer but ended up with a squad of players who barely knew each other, and that showed on the pitch in most of their performances. Newcastle on the other hand have a solid core of players, most of which have been together since the club won promotion from the Championship two seasons ago. That might be where Fulham went wrong last summer. They put too much faith in players who had just been signed and completely forgot about those who helped them get there to begin with. Wolves have shown with players like Conor Coady and Matt Doherty that if you put faith in your existing players, you can finish well in the Premier League despite being a newly-promoted side. Newcastle, must to the annoyance of their fans, could probably be at Wolves’ level if they had an owner who was at least willing to spend a bit of money.
