Rafael Benitez has told the Shields Gazette how Swansea City boss Carlos Carvalhal pointed out to him how little Newcastle United’s team had changed since promotion, ahead of the two sides' match at the weekend.
Newcastle named a line-up which would have been available to them last season against Swansea on Saturday.
The Magpies have suffered from a lack of investment since promotion.
And Benitez said that even Swansea boss Carvalhal noticed how little had changed with Newcastle’s team.
“Carvalhal told me that before the game [that his team hadn’t changed]. It tells everybody where we are. I have been saying it all season. Some people say ‘ah, but you have to do this, you have to do that’, but that’s the reality.”