Newcastle United manager Rafael Benitez has admitted that he needs to sign new players during the upcoming January transfer window.

Benitez has made no secret of his desire to improve his squad by signing new players but he admits that he is unsure of whether he'll receive funding from the board.

Benitez said: "I don't know what will happen. I will keep working until January as hard as I can to improve my players, and if we can do something, we will. If not, I will try to improve the players that are available to me.

"We did really well, but when you play against a 'normal' team, maybe you can make mistakes and get away with them. When you play against a top team, you know you will get punished.

"The point for us is that for the first 30 minutes, we were doing a great job as a team and everybody had the right belief and intensity.

"To concede the second goal made it very difficult to manage. We had to be higher and more open in the second half, and they have the pace, strength and physicality to punish you. Any time you make a mistake, you can pay for that, and that is what happened."