A very merry manager

Rafa Benitez commented:

"We can still improve. The team was playing well, everybody was pushing and working hard, but you always make some mistakes.

"The main thing for us was to get the three points so we could leave our fans happy. We also managed to get the clean sheet.

"We now have to show we can concentrate in every game. It doesn't matter if we score six goals, we get three points in the end. Now have to concentrate on the next game and not lose that concentration.

"We have to be keep working hard. And will say it again, I am pleased with them because the way they train and work everyday puts me in a difficult position to decide the team.

"Mitrovic did well but so did Ayoze around him and the wingers and defenders. The goalkeeper did well too and everybody who came off the bench. Everybody is pushing and to have this problem of Mitrovic, Ayoze, Gayle or Murphy is a good problem every game.

"It is not easy to keep everybody happy - hopefully, we continue winning and if we have to change players they will understand it is for the good for the team.

"I don’t think we played well in the first two games but we weren’t as bad as people said. They said we deserved to lose, I don’t think so. But we can’t change that.

"We had a difficult game away at Bristol and it showed sometimes you can win without playing really well. At QPR we had both things, we played well and got the result.

"Maybe against Fulham or Huddersfield we could have got a draw and it would have been totally different.

"You have to do things well, look forward and try to improve your team...we are a new team and we have to bring in new players. You have to keep working with them and understanding them.

"To play at the level we did at QPR was quite positive. They were quite strong and started the game with intensity. It was very warm out there, though.

"When we scored the third goal, I think mentally that moment killed them more than physically.

"After that, we were passing the ball well. When you are doing that and keeping the ball it gets more and more difficult for the other team.

On Jonjo Shelvey:

"He worked very hard over the summer to be ready. He didn't start in the team and maybe he thought it would be tough for him this season, but it's the same message for everyone.

On improving the goal difference:

"You never know. Sometimes you have to rely on it, but the main thing was to get three points and we are happy with that."

Ex-Smoggie Jimmy Floyd-Hasselbaink said:

"Some honesty has been said in the dressing room. Of course you have to be honest and truthful with each other after that. But the main thing is that we are together and that we want to move on and put it right.

"Newcastle are a good side and have a striker in Mitrovic who cost £15m, Shelvey cost £12m, Matt Ritchie £11m - and I could go on, but I don't want to make excuses. There were things that happened out there that I wasn't happy with.

"We were very stretched and it was easy for them to counter-attack us - and it's very dangerous when they they are able to do that. It was easy for them to get in behind us when though we were playing deep.

"It's hard to take, but I must say that Newcastle are a great team with big players and you could see that."
 

Stats

United's biggest away winning margins: 1907/08 Fulham won 6-0 (Anfield) (FAC) 1912/13 Everton won 6-0 (D1) 1927/28 Manchester United won 7-1 (D1) 1931/32 Southport won 9-0 (Hillsborough) (FAC) 1962/63 Walsall won 6-0 (D2) 1993/94 Notts County won 7-1 (LC) 2016/17 QPR won 6-0 (Championship) It gives us great pleasure to confirm that this is our biggest ever away win in London and the first time we've ever scored six goals in an away game in the capital. Stroll on! Newcastle recorded their sixth consecutive victory in all competitions (five in the league), their best form since a similar return in October/November 2014.  They also made it five games since conceding a goal - it's now 495 minutes since Reading's Garath McCleary netted from the penalty spot - beating a 488 minute run set in October/November 2014,  Our current tally of 495 minutes is the longest we can uncover since a 563 minute shutout that was achieved during March/April 1982. Rafa Benitez has now seen his side win their last three away games, our best league sequence on the road since concluding the 2009/10 Championship season with five successive away victories. Christian Atsu made his Magpies debut from the bench (becoming our first ever Ghanaian), while there were first goals in our colours for defensive duo Ciaran Clark and Grant Hanley.  United's 16 Championship goals so far have come from no less than 11 scorers: Clark, Gayle, Gouffran, Hanley, Hayden, Lascelles, Mitrovic, Perez, Ritchie, Shelvey, Yedlin. Our last second tier season saw 17 different players contribute to an eventual total of 90. (Re: that 2009/10 season, our highest margin of victory away from SJP was 4-0 at Ipswich). A statistical quirk that we cannot claim credit for is that United have never lost the second half of any of the 18 league and cup games since Rafa Benitez took over as manager. Mags v R's @ the Bush - all-time: 2016/17 won 6-0 Shelvey 2, Perez, Clark, Mitrovic, Hanley 2014/15 lost 1-2 Riviere 2012/13 won 2-1 Ben Arfa (pen), Gouffran 2011/12 drew 0-0 2009/10 won 1-0 Lovenkrands 1995/96 won 3-2 Ferdinand 2, Gillespie 1994/95 lost 0-3 1993/94 won 2-1 Clark, Beardsley 1988/89 lost 0-3 1987/88 drew 1-1 P.Jackson 1986/87 lost 1-2 Goddard 1985/86 lost 1-3 Gascoigne 1984/85 drew 5-5 Waddle 3, Wharton, McDonald 1982/83 lost 0-2 1981/82 lost 0-3 1980/81 won 2-1 Hibbitt, Boam 1979/80 lost 1-2 Ferguson 1977/78 won 1-0 Robinson 1976/77 won 2-1 Barrowclough, Nattrass 1975/76 drew 0-0 (FAC) 1975/76 lost 0-1 1975/76 won 3-1 Macdonald, Burns, Nulty (LC) 1974/75 won 2-1 Tudor, Burns 1974/75 won 4-0 Macdonald 3, Tudor (LC) 1973/74 lost 2-3 Moncur, McDermott 1968/69 drew 1-1 Foggon Full record v QPR:   P W D L F A SJP 22 12 3 7 31 29 LR 23 9 4 10 34 38 League 45 21 7 17 65 67 SJP(FA) 1 1 0 0 2 1 LR 1 0 1 0 0 0 SJP(LC) 0 0 0 0 0 0 LR 2 2 0 0 7 1 Cup 4 3 1 0 9 2 Tot 49 24 8 17 74 69 It seems pertinent to mention the 5-5 game here in September 1984, when we led 4-0 at half time, having scored four times in 39 minutes. Tonight we managed it in 31 minutes. Since then we've scored four goals in one half away at Notts County in the League Cup (in 26 minutes, won 7-1 in October 1993) and the mackems in the Premier League (in 27 minutes, won 4-1 in April 2006). Scoring four goals in one half away from home is rare, but our record tally is five. QPR suffered the heaviest league home defeat in their 96 year history - and the biggest home mauling in any competition since Arsenal scored six without reply in the FA Cup during 2001.

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