By Neil Langer
In any other circumstance, there would be serious concerns and discord among supporters after the current start to the season.
Most Toon fans however place there trust in Rafa – and rightly so – but we do need points and soon.
We travel to Crystal Palace on Saturday and the old saying is right – ‘when you’re struggling, there are no easy games’. It won’t be easy, but if there’s ever a time to back Benitez it’s now – he has a knack of turning things around just when we think we’re destined for trouble.
Five games into the new season, having just one point on the board is a statistic we share with 5 other clubs English clubs: Burnley, Preston North End, Gillingham, Grimsby Town and Notts County. The difference being, we have Rafa Benitez. We’re in safe hands.
Four of our five fixtures so far have been against the league’s ‘top 6’ and with some better fortune we could have taken points from every game – not forgetting we’d have taken all three at Cardiff if we’d just converted that late penalty.
There is no doubt that we will once again, as expected, be fighting for Premier League survival, but once again we will pull it off.
Talk of January signings has emerged as predicted, but you get the feeling this is our lot. Let us all make the best of it, hope the squad remains injury free and that Rafa works his magic once again.
