Tony Cascarino tried to stop himself from laughing after being amused by Rafa Benitez’s remarks on Wilfried Zaha after Newcastle lost to Crystal Palace 1-0.
Benitez in his post-match press conference revealed that the Magpies had been watching clips of the Palace attacker all week in preparation for the game.
“Yes, because we knew how dangerous Zaha is and we were watching the clips about situations and especially this one – against Wolves, it was another penalty,” said the Magpies boss, as quoted by the Chronicle.
“We had four defenders around, so we made a mistake.”
These remarks caught Cascarino’s eye and he seemed to struggle not to chuckle while explaining that the Magpies were undone on Saturday due to Zaha.
“One of the things that stood out for me, reading the quotes after the game, Benitez mentions Wilfried Zaha and that they had watched videos of him all week in certain situations and we know how dangerous he is,” said Cascarino trying not to laugh (talkSPORT, 8:36am, Sunday April 7th).
“Obviously the big turning point in the game was the penalty awarded against Zaha, erm that would frustrate a manager as he has actually alluded that all week they have looked at Zaha, why he is dangerous, where he is dangerous and why he causes problems, and they’ve been sucker-punched by something they worked on.”
OPINION
Cascarino’s can be heard laughing when explaining his verdict on Benitez’s remarks but it’s clear no member of the Magpies’ squad will be able to chuckle about the incident anytime soon. The Magpies boss is surely going to throw the book at his defenders, especially DeAndre Yedlin, for letting Zaha play a major part in Palace getting the win; as the Spanish boss clearly had warned his side about the attacker. Newcastle dominated the game in many respects against Palace and the fact they were undone because of Zaha, will clearly have left Benitez frustrated. It’s easy to see why Cascarino was amused by Benitez’s post-match remarks as it showed that despite all his warnings, his Magpies’ team still couldn’t cope with the Palace winger. You feel as if the Magpies boss may be particularly hard on his players for their next training session as a result; as that will be a way for him to deal with the frustrating loss to Palace.
