Rafa Benitez gives his players two days off, responding to Newcastle’s struggles

Rafa Benitez is geared up towards bringing a sense of calm to Newcastle United’s faltering promotion challenge, having given his players two days off just to relax following their recent loss at Ipswich Town.

Instead of ordering his squad into tough training this week for the purpose of punishing guys following their awful performance at Portman Road, Rafa Benitez has made up his mind to take rather a different approach in an attempt to generate a more positive reaction.

He gave up an idea of working guys hard on the training ground ahead of the home play against Preston North End. The ex- Liverpool as well as Chelsea manager felt his boys should be given some time off just to recharge, both physically and mentally.

On Thursday, the players are due to get back to training, exactly where he’s going to accelerate preparations for Monday night’s play against Preston, with the Spaniard assured that the team’s issues are mostly psychological and the guys have been simply paralyzed by the escalating tension on Tyneside.