Newcastle United beat Barnsley 2-0 at Oakwell yesterday evening.
Rafael Benitez has told the Chronicle that he dropped Jack Colback and Ayoze Perez from his Newcastle United starting line-up for his side’s match against Barnsley yesterday, as he wanted to add power to his team.
Colback and Perez had both started for Newcastle during their 3-1 victory against Brentford last weekend.
However, the pair were not backed to start at Oakwell, with Isaac Hayden and Mohamed Diame coming in to replace them.
The alteration to Newcastle’s line-up appeared to have the desired impact, as Benitez’s side ran out 2-0 victors in Yorkshire.
And the Spanish boss said: “We made two changes, Ayoze and Colback to make sure we were physically stronger. We protected the centre-backs with Hayden and Jonjo was passing and moving the ball.
“Diame was working hard too, and the full-backs.
“We were solid because everybody knew what they had to do.”
Dwight Gayle scored both of Newcastle’s goals last night, as they beat Barnsley.
The clinical forward first poked home from a corner, before latching on to a long-ball and chipping a shot over the onrushing Tykes’ goalkeeper.
Newcastle’s win over Barnsley has taken them up to the top of the Championship table, as Benitez’s side continue to go from strength to strength.
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