Benitez denies dropping Lascelles after bust-up
Newcastle manager Rafa Benitez has denied reports that he has dropped his captain Jamaal Lascelles after a bust-up over defensive tactics.
There were claims on Sunday afternoon from Daily Mail journalist Craig Hope that Lascelles had clashed with Benitez over his plans for a three-man central defence against Chelsea.
Understand Lascelles wanted to be in the middle of the back three but was placed on the right-hand side when trialled in training on Thursday. Come Friday, he was out of the team & Benitez has stuck to that. https://t.co/W9ZmwL4KIb
— Craig Hope (@CraigHope_DM) August 26, 2018
There were also suggestions that midfielder Jonjo Shelvey had also been dropped for disciplinary reasons, but Benitez denied that injuries were not the only reason for his team selection.
In a pre-match interview with Sky Sports, Benitez was asked if there was “more to” the situation.
“Not really,” he said. “Jonjo has been playing even with pain in the last two games so he was trying to be there but we had to talk with him to say ‘listen, you cannot play with pain because it is a risk’ so we stopped him.
“And Jamaal…he came with an ankle problem and then we decided that we needed, that we had enough centre-backs. And that’s it.”