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Rafa Benitez Man Utd press conference: “We are not a defensive team, we are a team that has to defend”

6 years ago
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Rafa Benitez has taken his pre-Manchester United press conference head of Sunday’s match.

The Newcastle boss saying that Jesus Gamez is still out but that Islam Slimani is a possibility to play against Man Utd.

Rafa says that the Leicester striker is still not taking part in the full training sessions but he will have another look at him tomorrow, to judge whether he can be available for Sunday’s game.

Quizzed on tactics, the United boss says that the simple fact is that with the players he has available to him at Newcastle for most matches: ‘We are not a defensive team, we are a team that has to defend.’

Whilst Rafa Benitez was limited to loan signings in January (in last five years under Mike Ashley, no players have been bought in four of the last five January windows), Manchester United have added Alexis Sanchez…

As it happens, Sanchez has never scored against Newcastle, so hopefully that record continues on Sunday, as well as his stellar team-mates also failing to score.

Rafa Benitez:

Islam Slimani did part of the training and we will see how he is tomorrow.

“We have Jesus Gamez getting better but it is too soon for him.

Manchester United were very good before and they are a little bit better now with Alexis Sanchez .

“They are a good team with a very good addition.

“Each manager has his own tactics and his own team depending on the opponents.

“We are not a defensive team, we are a team that has to defend.

“We will try to do our best to win against Man Utd.

“We have the same problems as the other teams in the bottom half. You have so many good teams at the top. One bad result can change everything.

“We have to stay calm and be stronger with the new additions.

“I think our idea is to win any game, it doesn’t matter if it’s home or away.

“One thing you can’t question is this team’s effort. We need to improve our finishing and grow our experience.”

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