Rafa Benitez washes his hands of Newcastle's decision not to sign this January

 

Newcastle United boss Rafa Benitez has washed his hands of the club's decision not to sign January reinforcements. The Magpies missed out on the capture of Crystal Palace and England winger Andros Townsend on deadline day, despite a protracted chase of the 25-year-old.

And Benitez made it clear throughout the month of January that his squad required strengthening, with a midfielder, wide player and even a striker, earlier in the window, earmarked. But United ended up with nothing to show for their month, bar the departure of a number of fringe and youth players on loan. The Spaniard said it was not his call to have a quiet January. And he has made his thoughts known to the club prior to Tuesday's close at 11pm.


"It wasn't my decision," he said of the lack on incomings speaking to Sky Sports. "I said what I wanted, what the team needed and that was it. "It wasn't my decision." What Benitez did have control over was his team, and they produced a disappointing show on home turf against Queens Park Rangers last night, despite scoring two cracking goals courtesy of Jonjo Shelvey and Matt Ritchie.

"It is true sometimes to score nice goals means nothing," said Benitez. "You have to score more than the other team. "It doesn't matter if it is a scrappy goal or whatever, but we didn't do it. "It was a pity. We started so well. We lost the control in the first half but then we started really well in the second half. "We had opportunities to finish the game and score the third goal and then we concede an own goal which is the worst thing that can happen. "It is crucial for every game - you have to take your chances. "Especially this one where we have three or four chances to finish the game." Given all of the transfer talk in the last week, Benitez has to work with what he has got at United now. And he has opened up about what the mood was like in the camp after a QPR draw that, because of the nature of Ciaran Clark's late own goal, felt like a defeat. "They are disappointed," said Benitez. "Obviously when you have a game that is nearly won and you draw in this way it is disappointing. "You expect to win and it is a long season but we have to carry on. "Every game is important and Derby is the next one. "We need to forget about it and move on. There is no point in concentrating what we have done, we need to look to the next game."