The trip to the Sports Direct Arena, Saturday (02/02/2013) night local time, did not produce points for Chelsea. They have to go home empty-handed after a 2-3 defeat of the home team.
In the game, Chelsea were 0-1 behind at half time to turn things around in the second half through Frank Lampard and Juan Mata. However, in the remaining time, they failed to prevent Moussa Sissoko twice breaking goalkeeper Petr Cech.
"The reaction that we show (in the second half) is fantastic. We scored good goals, have a chance, but we made the mistake of letting Newcastle counter-attack, and it is something we have to fix," said Benitez on the club's official website.
"I am very pleased with the effort shown by the players in this game, but we have to improve the way we controlled the game. Shows we have more experience," he added.
The defeat of Newcastle did not change the position of third place Chelsea in the Premier League with 46 points from 25 matches. They left behind 16 points from Manchester United that is in the top position and six points clear of Manchester City in second place.
Tottenham Hotspur is in fourth place and only four points clear of Chelsea is also a potential new approach because they played on Sunday (03/03/2013), against West Bromwich Albion.
With the remaining 13 matches to finish the season, Benitez believes Chelsea will be able to survive in zone three.
"This team has great team spirit and I believe we will finish in the top three," he said.
