'The football gods were on Newcastle's side'

The Reds endured a frustrating afternoon at St James’ Park and were beaten 1-0 after a second-half winner from Matt Ritchie.

 

Here are the manager's key post-match comments, from his post-match press conference and interviews with MUTV and Sky Sports…

 

“They fought like animals - I hope they take that as a compliment. The gods of football were on their side. It wasn't going to happen for us today. Newcastle gave what they have and what they don't have, that's a beautiful thing in football. They fought for their point, a point is what they had in mind. We made a defensive mistake and when they are in front they had only one thing in mind and gave their lives to keep a clean sheet.”

 

“We could be here for 10 hours and we wouldn’t score a goal – that’s the feeling. When you see the amount of chances we lost, starting in the first half when Anthony [Martial] was facing the keeper. In the second half, we had Alexis [Sanchez] with an open goal and then we had an accumulation of situations where it’s incredible that we didn’t score. But I think we also have to say the goal is a mistake. A lateral free-kick which travelled a long distance to the box – we lose the first ball in the air because we didn’t compete in the air and then we lost the second ball on the floor and from that moment, you could say it’s about Newcastle luck – but it’s also fair to say Newcastle fight.”

WE BELIEVED UNTIL THE END
“We had to believe until the end, which is what we did. In a similar way, the Newcastle players fought for 90 minutes. I also loved the way my players fought for the last 20-25 minutes to change the result. Were Newcastle lucky? Yes, they were. But sometimes you attract the luck with your state of mind and, after the 1-0, they fought for their lives.”

“We train, we work, we organise... and the players have their individual jobs when they defend zonal. The players they know there are responsibilities but I am pretty sure you already watch that goal on TV a few times, I didn’t. So you know more than me and you know who lost the challenge in the air, you know clearly that so I think it is bad if you put me in a position where I have to criticise a player. By yourself you make your own analysis.”

“After some defeats, he told me a few times don’t be so sad, if you look and think about the happiness of the other guys, so [it] has to be the way. I know that Newcastle players, fans and [Rafael] Benitez are very happy with the three points, with the feeling that the gods of football were with them, so at least I have that little smile. But obviously I am disappointed because we did more than enough to leave without a defeat.”

 

“We are second, so our position is better than all the others that are behind us, but there is still a lot of matches still to play and we have to fight for the position.”