Rafa Benitez knows most teams aren’t going to find three points when two backs go down in the first half against a superior team.
He also knows that Jonjo Shelvey’s red card was deserved, and that Spurs picked up a deserved win after Newcastle held them without real danger for 50 minutes.
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That’s where the understanding ends for Benitez, who saw big summer signing Florian Lejeune scythed down by a Harry Kane scissor kick and just a yellow card shown. Lejeune left the game, joining left back Paul Dummett as players needing first half subs.
From the BBC:“It was difficult from the beginning. We had to adapt things [after injuries]. The red card changed everything. I think we were defending well. We have to improve. We had our chances but we missed them.”
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“The Harry Kane tackle was worse than this one. It’s more dangerous. We lost one player from that. We made a mistake, but I think maybe someone has to analyse these things to see what’s more dangerous.”
Let’s be clear, Kane’s ugly tackle -- easily a yellow card -- wasn’t worse than Shelvey walking on Dele Alli’s achilles tendon. But Benitez is right to feel aggrieved when Newcastle lost a major player on an unseemly tackle, and we’re sure he’s raging at Shelvey for ruining what looked like it could be a scoreless draw and welcome point from the Magpies’ Premier League return.