Benitez: I’d play same way again versus Pep

RAFA BENITEZ says it is too easy for former players to criticise managers and insists he would adopt the same game plan in the future against Manchester City despite the furore it has caused. Sky pundits Gary Neville and Jamie Carragher hit out at the tactics of the Newcastle boss during Wednesday’s 1-0 defeat by the Premier League leaders. Benitez placed 10 men behind the ball in the first half but the home side pressed for an equaliser late on and put City under pressure. That has not stopped the debate and the Spaniard believes some pundits make controversial comments for the sake of it. ‘I will do what I have to do to win for my team, that’s it,’ Benitez

Standing firm: Rafa Benitez has hit back at his critics REX said when asked if he had any regrets. ‘I did not hear any criticism from my players. You have to understand, I was talking with an ex-player who is a pundit now and I was asking him if he wanted to be a manager. He answered, “No, it’s too much responsibility, so I prefer to be a pundit and you can say whatever you want and nothing happens”. ‘As a manager, you have to make decisions, as a pundit you have to just give opinions, but you know that nothing changes. ‘I can understand the job of the pundit, to create things that you will ask me about in a press conference for the audience. ‘But we are managers, we take responsibility for our decisions.’