Kenedy penalty call was spot on

FoLLoWiNG Newcastle’s draw with Cardiff on Saturday, there were some very strong words from Warnock. Stephen Warnock that is, who was covering the game from the commentary box. He was incensed that Kenedy was allowed to take Newcastle’s last-minute penalty and argued that his performance to that point had been so poor, the ball should have been taken from him. Challenged to explain his logic, Warnock admitted that it would have been a contentious decision because, having played under him at Liverpool, he knew Rafa Benitez always named the penaltytaker in the dressing room before the match. Still, he reasoned, captain Jamaal Lascelles or a senior player like Jonjo Shelvey should have assumed responsibility. And that was a populist case, Kenedy having missed. yet let’s say Lascelles or Shelvey had done it. Looked over at a coach with league and european titles to his name, and as good as decided: we know more than you. For a start there is a risk of permanently alienating Kenedy. the usurpation would have sent a damning message from his team-mates, one from which he might not have recovered. then, there is the hardly inconsequential matter of undermining the manager. Benitez would either have had to discipline his captain, a senior player, or both — or risk further mutiny. one of Antonio Conte’s more spectacular fall-outs with his players at Chelsea involved a tactical change made unbidden, mid-match. Conte was furious, and rightly so. it is not for the players — or in this case, player — to veto his tactics. the same applies to the penalty-taker at Newcastle. if Benitez thought Kenedy incapable, it was for him to intervene, and no one else. Also, there is no guarantee Kenedy’s replacement would have scored. if he was better at it, he surely would have been Benitez’s choice in the first place. No manager endorses the second-best penalty taker at the club. And the pressure would have been enormous after such a bold, public show. other decisions of this kind have not ended happily. Christian Benteke wrestled the ball off Luka milivojevic — who had already scored from the spot in the game — in an attempt to convert a late winner against Bournemouth last season. He missed, Crystal Palace drew 2-2, and the home crowd booed their striker off. Kevin mirallas was another offender, wayward from the spot having denied Leighton Baines his usual role when everton played West Brom in 2015. And according to Jamie Carragher, Craig Bellamy was fined for going against the coach’s instructions, claiming and missing a penalty for Liverpool in a Carling Cup match at Birmingham in 2006. the manager that day? Benitez. So Kenedy took it, and Kenedy blew it. And in the overall scheme of things, that was probably just as well.