Rafa Benitez still confident he can save Newcastle despite loss to Leicester... 'I can see positives but there are things we can fix'

Rafa Benitez remains convinced he can save Newcastle despite seeing his reign start with a 1-0 defeat at Leicester.

The Magpies are second from bottom with nine games to play and have now lost seven on the spin away from home.

Sportsmail columnist Jamie Carragher believes his former Liverpool manager does not have enough good players at his disposal.

Rafa Benitez took positives after Newcastle lost 1-0 to Leicester in his debut game as manager

Shinji Okazaki netted the winner with an acrobatic overhead kick to restore the Foxes' five-point lead

Claudio Ranieri congratulates his players as Leicester leave eight games to make Premier League history

Benitez, though, was keen to take the positives from a performance which, while an improvement on recent efforts under Steve McClaren, drew another blank on the road, their sixth in eight games.

‘If you don’t win I’m not happy, but I am happy with the commitment and work rate,’ he said.

‘So I can see positives but there are things we can fix.

‘Yes, of course I believe we can (survive). There were a lot of positives and the team showed that they are convinced they can win. Every game will be important for us but we need results.

‘We know our next game against Sunderland is a derby and it will be important for everyone, but I have a feeling the fans are really good and they are the number 12 for the next game.’

Benitez was pleased that his side enjoyed more attacking territory than of late, but Carragher was not impressed with their execution in the final third.

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‘They will have to change a lot against Sunderland (on Sunday) because they're at home and they need to score goals,’ he said in his role as a Sky Sports pundit.

‘There is a lack of quality in attacking areas. A perception of Newcastle is they have too much quality to be in this position, so maybe it's an attitude problem why they're there.

‘But I don't think it's all about their attitude. Their goal record shows there isn't enough good players. We didn't see that quality in front of goal.’