Newcastle may continue to be without experienced campaigners like Fabricio Coloccini andDaryl Janmaat for the game against Manchester City, according to manager Rafa Benitez.
Newcastle have been trying to keep their heads above the relegation zone without much success. Benitez recently replaced Steve McClaren in order to try and help the club stay in the Premier League. He recently secured his first victory as the manager of the magpies. Just when it seemed that things could not get worse, Newcastle have received bad news in the form of injuries to Coloccini and Janmaat.
Captain Coloccini has been struggling with a calf injury since the start of February. Janmaat, meanwhile, has been struggling from a groin injury and also had a fracture on his hand. Benitez says that the prognosis before the game against City is not good. Benitez is especially disappointed with the news about Janmaat given that he felt the player provided a good balance to the team. Since both players are expected to be unavailable for the trip to the Etihad stadium to face a top team like City, Newcastle do not have much hopes going into the game. Benitez, though, has tried to point out to the 3-0 emphatic win over Swansea as a sign that the team is good enough.
“I was talking with them both before, so tomorrow we will see how they feel. I think (Tuesday) will still be too soon.At least we’ve seen Paul Dummett come back and we had a better shape about us because to play a right-footer on the left side is a problem for us.You can play the ball from the back sometimes from both sides when you’ve got people in the right positions and it’s better for us,” said Benitez.Paul Dummett came back to the starting line-up in the game against Swansea.