Dúbravka credits Benitez for inspiring confidence in him
Newcastle goalkeeper Martin Dúbravka claims that the club’s busy December fixture schedule will decide how the club will end the season.
The £4million summer signing from Sparta Prague has fast established himself as the Magpies’ Number One, and has enjoyed a successful start to the season – even if Newcastle have struggled.
While on international duty with Slovakia, Dúbravka told local media that he has always had the confidence of coach Rafa Benitez, who has in turn helped him develop and grow as a player.
Talking to Ujszo, as quoted by Chronicle Live, Dúbravka said:
I feel very good about the manager and I feel Rafa Benítez’s confidence, which is very important for a player. Every single player is trying in every single training session to prove to the coach, every single day and in every single training session, that they deserve a place in the starting XI.
Newcastle have won their previous two Premier League matches, 2-1 and 1-0 against Bournemouth and Watford respectively, after having gone their first ten league games of the season without a win.
And Dúbravka has credited the Newcastle squad, especially the improved defence, for starting to turn their season around. He continued:
I’m very happy to win the last two games. At the beginning of the season we had a lot of draws and we did not really get the good results but we played well and delivered a good performance.
All we were missing was luck most of the time. The last two games that has improved and we have become more stable at the back and now I think we’re getting the results that our performances deserve.
The season is still terribly long, and there are many games ahead of us. It is said that in the Premier League, December is the decisive month when deciding which teams are the ones who can fight for the top of the table and which teams are trying to avoid relegation.
I’m also curious about December now the team is in good shape and the points have come. Personally I’m going to look at it match by match and hope we can take care of as many of the games in the interim as possible.