Ritchie praises Benitez for keeping his squad calm through trying times

Newcastle winger Matt Ritchie has hailed manager Rafa Benitez for keeping his squad calm during a difficult time at the club.

The Magpies finally won their first Premier League game of the season last weekend against Watford, following ten successive league matches without a win.

Those three points lifted the club out of the relegation zone and into 17th place, finally giving the Newcastle fan base a moment to breathe.

And Ritchie has praised Benitez for helping his squad remain calm, and for sticking to his principles despite the poor form.

Talking to Robbie Savage on BBC Radio 5Live about last weekend’s win, as quoted by Chronicle Live, Ritchie said:

It was a long time coming.

I have said before that I think we have performed really well throughout the season. Obviously not quite good enough because we hadn’t won a game yet but we were taking positives from games and it was coming.

We believed it was coming but I think in the first half we rode our luck a little bit and the second half we performed really well.

One of the gaffer’s biggest qualities is to always remain the same around the dressing room and around the training pitch. He never panics.

That’s his experience of being in the game for so long at top clubs. The expectation here is high and we feel like he manages that very well which is good for the players.

He is very tactical. Tactically, for sure, I have learned a lot. I think that we work and we never get rolled over. This season, certainly, Chelsea, City, Tottenham, they have all beaten us by one goal.