Sunderland goalkeeper Vito Mannone does not believe that new Newcastle boss Rafa Benitez can pull off a great escape for the Magpies as he has arrived at the club too late.
Sunderland goalkeeper Vito Mannone does not believe that new Newcastle boss Rafa Benitez can pull off a great escape for the Magpies as he has arrived at the club too late.
Sunderland and Newcastle drew at the weekend leaving Newcastle three points from safety with just eight games left of the season. Sunderland aren`t much better off, but Mannone feels that Benitez`s job is a step to far for any manager.
The Sunderland stopper saw first hand how the Magpie`s attack perform and believes there is not a lot to worry about, even though he failed to keep a clean sheet himself at St James Park on Sunday.
He told reporters: ‘They still had the problems in the first hour of the game, we saw that.
‘So I don’t see how the new manager can sort everything out in the next eight games. It will be hard.
‘It is difficult when a manager comes in for the last two months. It is not easy. I have seen it myself in the last couple of years.
‘Benitez is a top manager. He has been at some good clubs. It will help Newcastle to have him. But we have to look at ourselves.’
A common factor for the Black Cats and Newcastle is that both clubs come up against Norwich in the next few weeks, they currently sit in 17th place in the Premier League and would hold a massive advantage if they could pull off two home wins against the north-east clubs.
But Mannone added: ‘We all play each other in a few weeks when we both go to Norwich.
‘We have to seize our chances before we meet them. We have West Brom and Leicester at home so we have to take the chances before we go to Norwich.
‘I am confident we can get out of it. The team has improved a lot. We look more solid. We create chances, scoring goals but we are still missing that edge to not concede.’
