The aim for Newcastle United at the start of the season was clear: win promotion straight back to the Premier League. They remain on course with 2017 upon us.
With 25 matches of the Championship season down, Benitez’s side sit in second position with 49 points, six points ahead of third-placed Reading.
Despite losing their two opening league fixtures, the Toon have bounced back and they have certainly been helped by the impressive performances of players such as top goalscorer Dwight Gayle and midfielder Jonjo Shelvey.
While there have been some brilliant runs of form and victories such as the 6-0 thrashing of Queens Park Rangers at Loftus Road, there has been some disappointing results too for the Magpies, and that is something that their Spanish manager will look to put right in 2017.
Here are THREE things that Newcastle must improve on this year…
Avoiding complacency
While they have been in brilliant form for parts of the season, you do get the feeling that Newcastle may have got complacent at points during the campaign when you look at some of their results.
It was a feeling that would have started at the beginning when Rafa Benitez’s side lost their opening two matches against Fulham and Huddersfield.
However, more surprising would have been the performances and results against relegation strugglers Blackburn Rovers, with a surprise 1-0 home defeat against the Lancashire outfit being followed up with a loss by the same scoreline on Monday at Ewood Park. This is something that Benitez must rectify in 2017 as the push for automatic promotion continues.
This is something that Benitez must rectify in 2017 as the push for automatic promotion continues.
Improve home form
Newcastle have lost seven of their 25 Championship matches this term, with four of those being at St James’ Park.
With the squad he has at his disposal, Benitez and the board would be expecting the Magpies to be doing a lot better than that - despite how notoriously difficult the division is.
What might be even more concerning for the Spaniard though is that in those four defeats, they scored just the solitary goal meaning Wolves, Sheffield Wednesday and Blackburn needed to net just the once to take all three points, although the former netted twice in their win on Tyneside.
Getting goals from all over the pitch
With the players they have at their disposal, Benitez will be slightly disappointed that they have had to heavily rely on Dwight Gayle for goals this season.
The former Crystal Palace man has netted 19 league efforts and is the Championship’s top scorer, but the next highest marksmen are midfielders Matt Ritchie and Yoan Gouffran, who have four each to their name.
Benitez, in particular, would have expected more goals from the likes of Aleksandar Mitrovic and Ayoze Perez, and he will surely be looking for solutions to that problem during the January transfer window and into the second half of the campaign.