Rafael Benitez deserves huge credit for his job at Newcastle United this season.
Pat Nevin has told Off The Ball that Newcastle United’s Rafael Benitez should be in the running for Premier League Manager of the Year.
The Magpies came from behind to beat Arsenal 2-1 at St James’s Park on Sunday and move 13 points clear of the relegation zone.
Newcastle, who now sit 10th in the table, had been suffering in and around the bottom three for much of the season, but the Spanish manager seems to have gotten a tune out of his troops at just the right time.
Benitez, a Champions League winner with Liverpool in 2005, has struggled to sign his first-choice targets in recent transfer windows after failing to get the financial backing from owner Mike Ashley, despite leading the club to Premier League promotion last season.
Nevin told Off the Ball: “Certainly since the turn of the year they’ve been absolutely brilliant. They’re a dangerous team, they’re a well organised team, they’re a phenomenally structured team, they’re a sensibly built team as well.
“It’s actually not that complicated when you look at it, but a team that’s winning the way they’re winning now, they’ve got a spirit, they’ve got a core of a team that never seems to change as well and he’s kept them all quite fit.
“He’s got a little bit lucky there now and again, but to do that with limited resources and find themselves arguably in the top half of the league considering where they were, he’s not going to get manager of the season, but he kind of should be in the running. Rafa has done a brilliant job here.”
Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City have won the Premier League easily this season, with the Citizens sitting 16 points clear of Manchester United with five games to go.
As a result, the former Barcelona coach is expected to win Manager of the Year, but Nevin is right – Benitez should be considered for the individual award.
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