Rafa Benitez is happy following Newcastle United’s slender 1-0 defeat to Tottenham Hotspur but the manager insisted new signings were required badly at the St James Park.
Newcastle added two players in the January transfer window as both Miguel Almiron and Antonio Barreca. The club broke their transfer record for Almiron while Barreca arrived on a short term loan from Monaco.
The game looked to be on course to a stalemate but a late goal from Heung-Min Son sank the Magpies. Almiron was unavailable for the game as he is still waiting for his work permit.
Benitez had a tough time convincing owner Mike Ashley to splash the cash and it remains to be seen how he plans to use the new player.
Benitez said, “I think so. As I said before, to bring new faces, and the characteristics of these players, will be something that I think will be positive for the future. We needed that, and hopefully we see what happens next.
“[Almiron] can help, like [Antonio] Barreca. When you have competition it is always positive for the team.”
“We did well for a while in the first half, we had the chances in the beginning of the second half. We defended well, but the problem for us is conceding this kind of goal. You could concede another one, but this one we could avoid.
“You have to give credit to Son because the shot is a good one, but we could do better. But it’s not just one mistake we have to analyse, it’s overall.
“The performance was fine, if you analyse the chances we had in the first half, hit the post in the second.”
