Rafa Benitez reveals what he told his Newcastle players in the dressing room after Watford defeat

Benitez’s side were beaten 3-0 at St James’s Park on Saturday.

The result – the club’s fourth successive Premier League loss – saw Newcastle end the weekend in 14th place.

Watford were given too much space by United, who have scored just one goal in their last four games.

Benitez was unhappy at the “mistakes” his players made, though he believes they have the “passion and character” to recover from their losing run.

“After the game, I just said what we did wrong,” said Benitez, whose side take on West Bromwich Albion at The Hawthorns tomorrow night.

“If you lose a game through lack of character or passion, but here we made mistakes.

“This team has the passion and character to come through this.”

DeAndre Yedlin’s errors were highlighted on Match of the Day.

Asked about Yedlin’s performance, Benitez said: “I don’t like to talk about players, but I was really pleased with some of the things he did.

“They had an extra player on that side, and Richarlison is quite difficult to control and their full back (Marvin Zeegelaar) was going forward.

“It’s hard for him to be in both places at the same time.”

Meanwhile, Watford goalscorer Andre Gray, a player Newcastle looked at in the summer, felt he should have scored a hat-trick.

“It’s a great win for the boys, especially considering none of us thought we played particularly well,” said Gray, who joined Watford from Burnley in the summer.

“We can play much better, but if you can play like that and come away with three goals and a clean sheet, then it’s a good sign.

“If anyone’s seen us in recent weeks, they’ll know we can play a lot better than that

“From a personal point of view, I should have walked off with the match ball. I missed two good chances and should have done better.”