Rafa’s sorry Toon facing plenty of Gray days
JOB done, Newcastle United are out of the FA Cup. For the 12th season of Mike Ashley’s ownership they have escaped before the fifth round — now to protect the bank balance.
Rafa Benitez says he wants to win, but actions speak far louder than words.
Trailing by one with nine minutes remaining, the Newcastle boss sent on defender Fabian Schar as his final change. Behind him, top goalscorer Salomon Rondon re-zipped his puffer jacket, he would not be needed.
Yet Rondon was exactly what Benitez’s sorry side were crying out for. Their sole shot on target had come after a clumsy barge upfield by Javier Manquillo, a defender taking matters into his own hands given the failings of those further forward.
An attacking trio of Kenedy, Jacob Murphy and Joselu played like strangers. At least the sight of Rondon would have rallied his team-mates and the crowd. As it was, hundreds headed for the exits. Those who remained booed on full-time, in part aimed at the lacklustre bunch on the pitch, some of it towards Benitez and his substitutions but, on the whole, Ashley was the target.
In the week that new figures revealed the club are the 19th highest-earning in world football, Newcastle were shopping in the bargain aisle, scrapping around for loan deals for reserve left backs. And even then an approach for Lazio’s Jordan Lukaku collapsed — reportedly on medical grounds — despite the player being at the training ground on Friday.
Benitez has made no secret of where the FA Cup lies on his list of priorities — somewhere beneath arranging another meaningless dinner date with Ashley — and he is unlikely to mourn the defeat.
Be warned, though, on the two previous occasions Watford have eliminated Newcastle from the competition — in 1989 and 2016 — they went on to be relegated, and this season has the stench of something similar.
‘The fans, they know, so it’s not that I have to explain the situation every time,’ said Benitez. ‘We put a team on the pitch that could win, we didn’t do it and that proved that we just have to concentrate on one competition.’
It took three replays to separate these clubs in the third round of 1989. Both ties at St James’ were goalless and that was where this was headed after a dreadful first half, shaded ever so slightly by a Watford side showing 11 changes.
The televisions inside the stadium show a highlights reel during half-time, complete with replays from all possible angles. The clips always last the entirety of the break. Not here.
Even VAR was not needed, so lacking was any action.
That changed just after the hour when Will Hughes drifted infield and rolled a reverse pass in behind a static defence. Andre Gray had read the midfielder’s intentions — his marker, Jamaal Lascelles, had not — and the Watford striker fired beneath Woodman.
At least the concession brought a momentary response from the hosts as Manquillo’s effort was headed from the line by Ben Wilmot who, at 19, was the youngest player on the park but also the best. He started in midfield but dropped to
centre back and strolled through 90 minutes with a maturity belying his tender years.
An England Under-20 international, he has the poise, technique and stature to go further. And his team-mates showed equal composure in making sure of the result in the 90th minute, Quina squaring for Isaac Success to tuck in from close range.
Manager Javi Gracia said: ‘We are in a good position in the league and are going forward in the FA Cup. However, we are in January still and there are a lot of games left in both competitions. Now is the moment when we have to show our level, our ambition.’