Publications
Partners
Cape Town - Rafael Benitez says Newcastle United were well below their best in the narrow 1-0 loss to Burnley at Turf Moor on Monday night.
Jeffrey Hendrick scored the only goal of the game on 74 minutes after an error in defence from the away side, to see the Clarets move up to seventh on 16 points, and Newcastle in ninth on 14 points.
After the match, a disappointed Toon boss lamented one mistake that cost them a point.
Ayoze Perez had been dispossessed in midfield, with Jack Cork racing through on goal, and after Rob Elliot had parried Cork's shot, Johann Berg Gudmundsson was on hand to pick out Hendrick who smashed home from close range.
After the match, Benitez said: "We made a mistake and after it we were out of position.
"I don’t like to name anyone but it was obvious we didn’t do what we had to do. On the ball we had to be a bit better and more precise. We still had chances and some attempts.
"But in these kind of games you have to be sure to be strong enough in defence. You have to be better in attack.
"You can win games like this but they have to make a mistake, they didn’t and took advantage of it."
He added: "It was an even game, in that we could have won it or lost it. It was perhaps going to come down to one mistake and that’s exactly what happened.
"They were pushing and had some chances but not enough. These kind of games, when you have control you have to be sure when you create something more you don’t give the ball away the way we did."
