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Cape Town - Newcastle United manager Rafa Benitez says that midfielder Jonjo Shelvey has apologised for his needless red card in their opening-day defeat to Tottenham.
The Magpies were beaten 2-0 on their return to the Premier League, conceding goals after Shelvey was dismissed early in the second half for stomping on Dele Alli’s ankle in plain view of referee Andre Marriner.
"He made a mistake and that's it," Benitez said. "He knows he's made a mistake and he's apologised but it can't change anything now."
Benitez could not help but ask "if it's more dangerous this situation or the tackle from behind" from Harry Kane, and praised his side for a "great effort against a good team".
"To go to the point where it was 0-0 and with the chances that we had with a couple of counter attacks I would say again against a good team, it was a pity that everything changed. Things weren't going well with the injuries but after the sending off it changed everything.
"There were a lot of positives, but still if you want to win games, we cannot lose our focus for just one minute. We know that we are in the Premier League and we have to do everything really well if we want to win games. All the effort that we put on the pitch was lost because we made a mistake."
Shelvey’s red card just after the restart at St James’ Park was followed by an opener from Alli in the 61st minute and a second from Ben Davies in the 70th minute.
The Magpies next travel to The John Smith's Stadium where they face fellow promoted side Huddersfield Town on Sunday where they will be looking to pick up their first points of the season.
Kick off is at 14:30.
