RAFAEL BENITEZ

Praise for playmaker after huge result

RAFA Benitez believes Miguel Almiron’s home Newcastle United debut was a valuable learning experience for the Magpies’ new star playmaker.

The Paraguay international was taken out by Tommy Smith in a brutal first-half challenge that earned the Huddersfield captain an early bath.

But Benitez feels that as Almiron’s reputation spreads around the Premier League, more episodes like Smith’s crunching tackle will come his way.

Speaking after the 2-0 win against the seemingly doomed Terriers, Benitez said: “He’s very dynamic and he has good pace and good movement behind defenders, but also he has good movement between the lines.

“Now he has to learn in the Premier League to understand what the physicality of the game means here, but I think he has the right mentality.”

Almiron went off to a standing ovation after showing the Geordie faithful exactly what he can do. Benitez said: “They can appreciate that he is a player who has energy and he’s very dynamic. When you have these kind of players, the fans normally, they love them.

“If he can carry on playing at this level, I am sure the fans will enjoy his football – and hopefully he can score goals and give passes, and then he will be the player that we know he can be.”

Benitez feels Almiron will get even better, but also warned it will get even tougher for the man who arrived from Atlanta United for £16m. He said: “Yes. If he can stay at the same level and score a goal, I will be pleased with that. It’s important for us to realise that today, we had to win; for him, the first game, he had to do well, but the main thing was the understanding with the team-mates around him, his effort, his commitment.

“Everything we have seen is what we were expecting from him. Obviously the defenders from the other teams will know him a little bit better now and it will be more difficult for him.

“But still, he is someone who is working really hard, so I think he can do well.”

However, Benitez has a plan for Almiron and insisted he did not withdraw the player with nine minutes left simply to milk the applause. He said: “No, we have to think about the next games too. When he came here, he was just in pre-season, so he doesn’t have the match-fitness you would expect in the middle of the season and we had to protect him a little bit.”

Benitez was delighted with his side’s creativity on the day, with Almiron bringing something fresh to the table for the Magpies. Overall, United had 29 goal attempts and hit the woodwork four times.

Thankfully, Salomon Rondon and Ayoze Perez did have their shooting boots on to seal the game and Benitez reflected: “The main thing was to be sure that you could create chances and at the same time, don’t allow them to have too many.

“Obviously with 10 players, it was more difficult for them, so we had a lot of attempts and we were controlling the game and it was a question of time to score another goal. Two-nil always is good, but it’s not ideal because if they had scored a goal, they would be in the game. We needed to score the third goal, but you have to give credit to his keeper.”