PUNDITS TALK FOR THE SAKE OF IT - RAFA
RAFA BENITEZ says it is too easy for former players to criticise managers and insists he would adopt the same game-plan 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 night’s 1-0 defeat to the Premier League leaders. Benitez placed 10 men behind the ball in the first half — during which Raheem Sterling scored the game’s only goal — but the home side pressed for an equaliser late on and put City under pressure. That has not stopped the subsequent 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 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. We were nearly there (against City). Imagine if we scored a late goal, everyone would be saying, “fantastic, perfect”. ‘I’ve seen a lot of teams doing the same against Manchester City and nobody was criticising them. I was pleased with the performance of my players and the way they tried to do things against the best team in the Premier League, and I think the fans appreciated that. Their reaction showed they were very pleased with the way we played.’ Benitez, whose side host Brighton today, also believes the quantity of analysis from ex-players is dangerous for the game. ‘In Spain and in Italy it’s exactly the same. You have too many TV stations and every one has two, three, four pundits, explayers, ex-managers and they have to ask questions,’ he added. ‘So you end up with 20 questions and maybe half of them are not good for the game. It’s like, “I will say this because I have to say something”. ‘I think it’s a problem for the future.’