Speaking ahead of Newcastle’s crucial match-up with Crystal Palace, Paul Dummett has spoken to the press about his new manager Rafa Benitez and what the Spaniard offers compared with his predecessor Steve McClaren.
Speaking to the Chronicle, the defender praised the ex-Real Madrid boss in how he was turning the squad into ‘better players’.
More specifically he has praised Benitez for the work he has done with the Newcastle back four.
With the Magpies conceding the second highest number of goals in the league this season (64 – only Villa have conceded more), it was imperative that a defence-minded coach in the mould of Rafa was brought into the club. After a clean sheet against Swansea and what should have been a clean sheet against Manchester City this month, there’s evidence to suggest that what’s being taught on the training ground is actually having a positive effect on match days.
“For me personally he talks about the positioning with each player and he works with the back four a lot.
“He tells us to be together and be more compact. Any manager has different opinions and growing up as players it can only help you learn from them. It will help me get better as a player too.”
Stu – I noticed that. It was great to see wasn’t it. They have really bought into the club in such a short time & it clearly means a lot to them. They were out congratulating all the players, as was Rafa. None of this straight to the changing room.
Great for the fans to see.
Sharpy17(Quote)
Pity Armstrong says he wants to stay at Coventry and not to return to the toon,we might need him if we go down
Icedog(Quote)
So jabba looking to buy BHS and save them,he should have been trying to save the toon the **** we have gone through
Icedog(Quote)
Ice: I haven’t looked into the Fat Man’s plans for BHS but I bet it isn’t to be a benevolent benefactor to the employees. My guess, and only a guess, is that he either wants to turn them into Sports Direct super stores or the properties have value because of their central locations.
Either way, I bet that the effect on jobs will be about net zero as he will close existing SD stores if he opens new ones.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
I don’t know why Armstrong would want to stay in Cov. I went to college there and haven’t been back. It was levelled by bombs in WWII and the whole city centre was rebuilt in that awful ’60s concrete jungle style. There were only about 10 pubs in the whole city centre. Hopefully it has got better. There are some nice places close by, Oxford, Stratford etc.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
First match at SJP for a little while. The roof nearly lifted with Townsend’s strike and again with Darlows save. Has Cabaye kept us in the PL? It was a poor penalty and perfect for the save.
Still worried about Spurs though. Just found out that if Liverpool win the EL they’ll take one of the top four CL places. Similarly if City win the CL they will too. So it could only be the top 2 that qualify for CL. Spurs won’t want to drop any points even if Leicester win the league. They’ll miss Alli though.
Ice – where did you read that about Arma?
Georgio(Quote)
Georgio: They changed the rules on CL qualification. This is from Wikipedia:
“The previous limit of a maximum of four teams per association will be increased to five, meaning that if the Champions League title holders or the Europa League title holders are from the top three ranked associations (but not both from the same one) and finish outside the top four of their domestic league, the fourth-placed team of their association will not be prevented from participating in the tournament. However, if both the Champions League title holders and the Europa League title holders are from the same top three ranked association and finish outside the top four of their domestic league, the fourth-placed team of their association will be moved to the Europa League.”
Eric Sykes(Quote)
“This match depends on which number ten plays the better, Sigurdson for Swansea or Coutinho for Brazil”
Trevor Francis
CC(Quote)
GEORGIO here mate
http://www.coventrycity-mad.co.uk/news/tmnw/id_love_to_stay_here_armstrong_886733/index.shtml
Icedog(Quote)
“I have a giant balloon head and everything I say is total shyte”
Paul Merson
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Did Armaz say he didn’t want to come back to NUFC?.
If not and his words were he’d like to stay at Coventry, I think that’s just him being nice & respectful to their club.
Let’s not forget this is a kid who’s first action was to go to NUFCs training ground and introducing himself to Rafa when Coventry gave him a few days off.
That’s not really the actions of someone wanting to leave the club I reckon.
That said, Rafa might still decide to send him on loan again next season if we stay up.
Sharpy17(Quote)
ERIC jabba has said not one job in the stores or offices will be lost in the buy out,but he won’t cover the570mil black hole in the pension fund
Icedog(Quote)
Don’t start me on Merson, He is everything that’s wrong with football coverage in this country
CC(Quote)
Jack cork did something other than pass it sideways
CC(Quote)
im 50% on the Stuart-O-Meter. we need to beat villa and hope Sunderland dont get anything from their game in hand. We could possibly beat Vila and we do well against the big boys so we could also beat Spurs
Sunderland could beat Everton and Watford but more likely to win one and draw one..
too tight to call for me
I must say, I never wrote off Lascelles, I was more concerned going into the relegation battle with him as our mainstay.
I couldnt of been more wrong, the guy has been totally outstanding and we could expect him to be captain next year, whatever league we’re in.
Gashley(Quote)
Do you know Townsend has 10 England caps, all under Hodgson? His competition is Oxslaid-Chamberlain, Walcott and Sterling. If you picked the team on form and not reputation or price-tag I think Townsend would be in with a shout of going to the Euros.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Lascelles had a bit of a bad start. The first pre-season game I saw him he gave away an obvious penalty and did the same in the first regular season game I saw him. I was worried about Darlow because Forest fans said he wasn’t that good when we first signed him. He still looks a bit shaky to me but happy he is proving not to be another Alnwick.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Will we get relegated with 39 points?
Stuart79(Quote)
ERIC fans are very fickle mate,when we first bought the two lads from Forrest a number of Forrest fans said they were the best prospects in the ccc,others didn’t like them,I know Peace fought with the board to keep them but they needed the cash so draw your views,that’s footy mate
Icedog(Quote)
I think Klopp is using these last few games to look at his squad, whilst keeping his better players fit for the Europa Cup – win it & he gets CL footy for next season anyway & I think he believes they can win it.
Sharpy17(Quote)
doubt it mate. if we win our next two games we’re safe i reckon. Sunderland will get 5 pts max (fingers crossed)
Gashley(Quote)
I reckon it’s more likely we can get 6 points than Sunderland can get 7 even with their game in hand.
Stuart79(Quote)
Would love to improve our goal ave and Palace get a thumping a couple of times and bring them down,that’s if we get 39 points like,now Villa have nothing to play for they are playing better,won’t be a easy game for us wish we had a goal poacher like Defoe we are very poor in that department
Icedog(Quote)
Let’s hope Chelsea turn up at scum and thump them it’s a hard game in hand for them here’s hoping they blow it,Sam says toon are putting pressure on his players
Icedog(Quote)
Villa will be a massive and extremely difficult game for the toon. They play far more effective football than us, and they are ****. The toon cannot string five passes together, been the same for years now…
Can see another cagey 0-0 or 0-1 win…. hopefully. Villa will NOT be an easy game, thats for sure. ffs the toon struggled at home against sheff wed third team, if we avoid relegation it will be a miracle, but as long as we still have a mathematical chance we have to believe..
Munich Mag(Quote)
I agree it will be a tough, tight game. I reckon we will sneak a narrow win though. However I do not understand how you claim they play far more effective football than us when we have more than double their points?
Shamrock(Quote)
I think Townsend is going to be a huge player for us for seasons to come.
I would love to see us sign Nathan Redmond from Norwich to play on the other wing for next season.
Sharpy17(Quote)
sham, they can string more than 5 passes together mate. your right though, “effective” was an unfortunate choice of words 😆
Munich Mag(Quote)
Southampton are willing to pay the 12mil for him if toon go down so doubt he will stay if we go down
Icedog(Quote)
😆 @ MM.
Shamrock(Quote)
Villa have lost 11 straight. Only on planet Carver would that be considered effective.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
@ Ice – I reckon the Ox will be Southampton’s priority on the wing this summer and I can see Arsenal letting him go. Partly because he is not that productive and partly because the fans hate him. I know the Sai ts’ Captain has been bigging up a move for him.
Shamrock(Quote)
Villa have lost 11 in a row FFS. They are down, it shouldn’t be that difficult, surely?
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Arsenal have to get rid of some of their sicknotes. I think that is what is holding them back.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
@ Eric. I believe Villa will be a tough game for 4 reasons;
1) We only have 1 away point in 201y.
2) There will be buge pressure on us to get a result.
3) Villa will be playing with no pressure.
4) We always start games poorly, which leaves us vulnerable to having to claw back a result.
One criticism of Rafa so far has to be that he seems to send us out with the wrong initial plan. Every one of our last 3 games we have fallen behind or just not turned up until the 2nd half onve Rafa has made mid game adjustments. We need to get it right from the off.
I would not be suprised if we only draw but will back us for a narrow win. They showed a lot of fight at Watford but I am hoping Deeney’s late show will have completely deflated them.
Also, this is Villa’s last home game. You would thinknthey would feel obliged fo try their utmost to give their fans at least 1 decent home result fo remember before they sink to the championship. On the other hand, the fans might take the opportunity to have a mass protest against Lerner, which would help us – but I have not heard anything along those lines…
Shamrock(Quote)
Ice – haven’t you been listening to Stu mate?!. We aren’t going down man!!!
Sharpy17(Quote)
Shamrock: your reasons for a tough game against Villa are mainly to do with us. Their form is so bad and that bad of form usually indicates a team who are in disarray and have given up and it is usually very difficult to arrest. They have no manager and are up for sale. Their most exprienced player has totally given up and is a disgrace. If there is any team in the league that should not be tough it is them.
I really think we need to start Mitrovic as Cisse offers so little. I understand the energy, but if that is all he brings then start Aarons (I know he wont). Hopefully that might fix our slow starts.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Sharpy – let me take this chance to say you were dead right about Townsend and I was totally wrong. I didn’t want to sign him but he now looks a top player.
If we can’t beat Villa we deserve to go down.
Georgio(Quote)
To be honest I think I prefer that Sunderland are the pundits favourites to stay up and have the better goal difference and game in hand. It is putting their players and manager under pressure in my opinion. I’m happy for us to quietly get on with our business and not comment on what other teams are doing. Big Sam made a fool of himself with his comments about Palace players and got exactly what he deserved.
DJG(Quote)
Eric of course most of the reasosn I give are to do with us. Its us that afe playing! I take all your points about how hard a run of defeats is to arrest and how it indicates a team in disarray tbat has given up – but they did not look like a team that has given up against both Southampton or Watford. What I will say though, is they do get ground down so long as ghe opposition remains focused and wants it. S’oton and Watford both kept fighring until the end and vot the 3 poings after bad starts. That is what should pull us through, as we are responding well to Rafa’s mid game changes and finishing games well.
Shamrock(Quote)
How does Fellaini continue to get away with elbowing everyone?
Stuart79(Quote)
@DJG. I think Big Sam’s comment after the Stoke game was telling. He said his team is feeling the pressure. I do not see any benefit in making that information public. It will only hdap on further pressure. It made him look unded pressure, so he must be feeling quite desparate.
Shamrock(Quote)
Enormous pressure on Everton and Watford (from me anyway). I’ve never known 2 midtable sides having so much influence on a season. Both managers under pressure too. Praying they do it!
Georgio(Quote)
People forget the reason Villa are relegated. They’ve not got very good players. In fact 16 points all season is quite incredibly poor! I also think it’s important to realise that it maybe more like a home game as they have failed to sell 14,000 tickets for the game and we will have officially 3,500 there.
Stuart79(Quote)
Sham – Sunderland are under huge pressure now. Al this playing well but winning so few will obviously have him worried and now we’re on the march it’s worse. I can’t see it getting better against Chelsea either and if we beat Villa and they lose or draw it’s hard for them to stay up in my opinion.
Stuart79(Quote)
Shamrock: Rafa has shown that it depends on if our players show up or not, but it helps to be playing the worst team in the league with an 11 game losing streak 🙂 I am finding it funny that Big Fat Sam’s mind games are back firing. By the way, he is not really that fat, I saw him entering the ground yesterday. It is his jowls that make him appear fat. Big Jowly Sam doesn’t have the same ring to it though.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Lerner did an Ashley. He left the running of the club to directors and then underinvested after making a decent original investment. He has totally given up and if ever there was a team that warrants the phrase “a fish rots from the head” it is Villa. He has given up and is only wanting 45 mil for Villa. I said earlier that Palace are valued at 300 mil so he really does just want shot of them at this point.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
STUART he has done that season after season I remember when he was at Everton he did a fair bit of damage on us that day he’s always been a dirty git one of the worst in PL Catt at scum is as bad
Icedog(Quote)
Actually, there is another parallel of Lerner with Ashley. He hired a manager who had just had a team relegated to The Championship and we hired a Manager who was just sacked by a Championship club. Probably 2 of the worst hires in the history of the PL.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
I always find it weird when a Ref gets a footballer haircut (the Leicester/Man U Ref has done it). Also, a British commenetator over here, Arlo White, has one. It would be like in the ’70’s and your Dad getting a big Keegan perm/fro.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Man Utd in desperate need to win their next match to stay in with half a chance of finishing in top 4. Just so happens it’s Norwich they play…
Stuart79(Quote)
Hard to work out if Norwich played well or the gunners played badly I think maybe they played badly as I expected them to get more at scum
Icedog(Quote)
Actually Spura season could just implode. I can’t see them beating Chelsea and if they’ve lost the league they might struggle against Southampton too. Could arrive at SJP with their heads all over the place!
Stuart79(Quote)
http://www.norwich.vitalfootball.co.uk/article.asp?a=445105
This guy reckons Norwich will need 2 wins and a draw or even 3 wins to stay up. S’land and Norwich are both hoping Everton and Watford are going to be on holiday. Good luck with that, did you see some of the goals Watford scored yesterday? We will have a hard game at Villa also, they are playing with no pressure and all the pressure is on our players.
DJG(Quote)
DJG – Everton have one of the best away records in the division and regardless of the problems they have, they have good players who will play on the counter because both Norwich and Sunderland will need to win and attack. Although my view is, this could be as good as over as early as 5pm next Saturday.
Stuart79(Quote)
totally agree lads, the guy is a total cheat
kimtoon(Quote)
i watched it Ice. Norwich played ok but Arsenal continued from where the left Sunderland…pretty poor
Gashley(Quote)
Even better scoreline at Southampton. This result giving Man Utd a sniff at top 4.
Stuart79(Quote)
Aye nasty piece of work that Fellaini. Should have quite a few more red cards than he does. The refs don’t deal with him properly because of the club he’s at.
GeordieTwo(Quote)
Georgio – it’s a numbers games mate, coz I made the same noises about Shelvey and he’s let me right down 😆
I don’t do I told you so mate, I’m just pleased I was right coz I think we’ve got a cracking player there. A lot said he was a one trick pony, but I think he’s proving there is way more to his game than that.
His workrate is outstanding, and the lad has an end product to go with it – whether that’s a goal himself or an assist.
Sharpy17(Quote)
I was also not surprisingly a big advocate of the Townsend signing… 😀
Stuart79(Quote)
Townsend has been the real deal for us. His work rate, his assists and goals, have been crucial. Makes some of our previous wingers look pathetic in comparison. I would like to know who finally came to their senses first within the club. Did Ashley say to Carr “all right Graham forget the flashy young French winger bit and find us some decent players”? I think at the very least Ashley had to privately admit his methods had failed.
GeordieTwo(Quote)
I would like us to have a sniff at the top 4 some day too Stuart mate. But it will take some hugely improved decision making by the owner. Starting with keeping Rafa on no matter what it costs.
GeordieTwo(Quote)
In fact I’m just going to say it. With Rafa we can have a sniff at the top 4! We can have decent domestic cup runs! We can be respected as a top club again!
GeordieTwo(Quote)
I cautiously agree but don’t think I’ll be counting any of my chickens until all of the eggs have hatched.
DJG(Quote)
Well that is City pretty much out of the race for top 2, so Spurs wont have anything to play for when they come to us. Think i will slide up to 55% confidence now.
Shamrock(Quote)
If Rafa keeps us up he has to be told the budget and given full control. No more of this Thauvin bollicks. Charnley can stay as long as he is just there to put the paper in the fax machine and manage non-football affairs. Carr can retire, isn’t the bloke about 70 anyway?
DJG(Quote)
It’s starting to look good but we have to get the away win at Villa. Rafa will continue to do the game management part well. It will be up to the players. A lot of hard work to come over the next couple of weeks but well worth it. I wish we had a better striker than Cisse to start matches. He is so flaky. You just never know what you’ll get with him.
GeordieTwo(Quote)
G2 I keep saying its a pity we didn’t have a goal poacher the like of Defoe we would be a lot happier
Sour grapes I think http://www.hitc.com/en-gb/2016/05/01/former-sunderland-midfielder-john-oster-not-happy-with-crystal-p/
Icedog(Quote)
All the best horses know exactly when to pounce and usually it’s in the last furlong, when they catch the rest by surprise and they can’t ‘go again’.
Stuart79(Quote)
http://liverpoolfc.wikia.com/wiki/Rafael_Benitez/Transfers
DJG – these are some of the signings Rafa made at Lpool. Some decent names in there and he built a side to win trophies so I reckon he knows what he’s looking for.
Sharpy17(Quote)
West Ham are apparently in talks with Lyon about Lazacette.
Stuart79(Quote)
But with Rafa at the helm I genuinely believe we will be able to attract better players who aren’t just using it as a stepping stone. Just makes staying up all the more important.
Stuart79(Quote)
That’s Andy on his way then
Icedog(Quote)
Shamrock: Spurs are guaranteed Champions League football now, although not the automatic spots yet. One sidenote is that their fans really want to finish above Arsenal. They have not done so since 94/95 and never under Wenger.
The Arsenal fans made up a day – St. Totteringham’s Day – the day when Spurs cannot mathematically finish above Arsenal.
Eric Sykes(Quote)