Rafael Benítez says he finds mind games boring but the worrying thing for Sam Allardyce and Alex Neil is that, right now, he has no need to resort to them.
Underpinned by a famously forensic eye for detail, the Spaniard’s aura of calm, good-natured authority is transforming Newcastle United to the point where supporters of Allardyce’s Sunderland and Neil’s Norwich City are becoming unsettled. By simply being himself, Benítez has not only galvanised his own team but planted seeds of doubt in the minds of both rivals.
A combination of the Spaniard’s grace under pressure and Newcastle’s best Premier League run since 2014 has fuelled real hope on Tyneside that a team one and two points, respectively, ahead of the other contenders for the last two relegation spots can stay out of the bottom three.
Considering Norwich and Sunderland have a game in hand, the odds remain against St James’ Park staging top-tier football next season but Benítez retains the air of an experienced pilot quietly confident he can safely accomplish a high-risk landing on an icy runway buffeted by crosswinds.
“It’s not 100% in our hands,” acknowledged Newcastle’s manager, who knows he needs another win at Aston Villa on Saturday. “But we’re going in the right direction, we’re doing the right things, we’re enjoying this challenge and we’ll try and enjoy it until the end.”
The fragility of such pleasure was emphasised by the nervous undercurrents rippling through a capacity crowd before the excellent Andros Townsend sent a sublime free-kick curving into the top corner. Indeed the tension would surely have become unbearable had Karl Darlow not subsequently dived low to his left and saved a Yohan Cabaye penalty that threatened to offer Crystal Palace a point.
It was typical of Benítez that, when Rob Elliot ruptured his cruciate ligament and joined the similarly injured Tim Krul in the treatment room, he refused to panic, instead simply stating how lucky Newcastle were to have such a good third-choice goalkeeper. Judging by Darlow’s occasional, generally unconvincing, appearances under previous managers it seemed wishful thinking but, instead, the former Nottingham Forest goalkeeper has been little short of brilliant.
Granted his positioning and footwork may be a bit unorthodox at times but he has pulled off a series of fabulous saves – on Saturday he repelled a difficult volley from Palace’s dangerous Yannick Bolasie and an awkward Cabaye shot – as his team-mates have reacquainted themselves with the concept of hope.
“This is a big three points for us,” said Darlow, who was shocked to see the penalty awarded for what seemed a nonexistent handball against Moussa Sissoko. If it helped that Cabaye, widely booed by his once adoring former geordie public, struck his kick poorly, Darlow still performed heroics. “I just picked the way to go, dived hard and reacted to the ball,” he said, reflecting on a stop which could yet prove worth £100m to Newcastle.
“It was possibly the most valuable save I’ve made. It was one of those special moments that could keep us up. We do our research and look through everyone’s penalties before we play them and Cabaye had put his last four or five the other way. So it was just instinct.”
Had fortune not frowned on Krul and Elliot, Darlow knows he would not even be warming the bench now so he appreciated it was imperative to take his unexpected chance. “I never had any doubt I could play at this level,” he said. “I just needed an opportunity but now I have to help make sure we stay up.”
With Bolasie and Cabaye causing them all sorts of problems Newcastle did not start too well but, gradually, a series of players apparently reborn under Benítez came to the fore. While Jamaal Lascelles highlighted his authority at centre-half with a fine, goal-preventing tackle on Connor Wickham, Cheik Tioté made some important interceptions and the impressive Jack Colback began really imposing himself on central midfield.
When Townsend’s magnificent free kick arced over the wall, safety felt within reach. “It wasn’t an easy game,” said Benítez. “When you see the size of Crystal Palace’s players you realise that, physically, they’re stronger than us so we couldn’t win by just fighting. We had to play football and when we started to move the ball on the floor you could see the difference.”
It was all so absorbing that, rather than proving provocatively divisive, Alan Pardew’s presence on his first return to the club since leaving for Palace seemed almost irrelevant. “Alan was braced for a hostile one,” said his assistant, Keith Millen. “But there was nothing. Newcastle fans realised they had bigger things to worry about.”
Man of the match Karl Darlow (Newcastle United)
