Newcastle United news: Toon boss Rafa Benitez hits back at critical TV pundits

RAFA BENITEZ thinks that telly pundits are becoming a problem in football.

The Newcastle boss was blasted for his defensive tactics in Wednesday night’s 1-0 home defeat to Manchester City.

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Gary Neville even labelled Toon’s lack of ambition as “embarrassing”.

But Benitez reckons modern pundits say things to try to cause a stir.

The Spaniard explained: “I think it’s a problem for the future.

“I can understand the job of the pundit — to create things you will ask me about in a press conference. They create these debates.

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“As a manager, you have to make decisions. As a pundit you just have to give opinions.

“I was talking with an ex-player who is a pundit now and I was asking him if he wanted to be a manager.

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“He answered, ‘No, it’s too much responsibility, I prefer to be a pundit and you can say whatever you want and nothing happens’.

“They don’t take any responsibility and they can make mistakes and the day after, it doesn’t matter.

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“When you are a manager, you have a group of players, you have fans, the city, responsibility and then you make the decisions you have to make to win games.”

Toon — who host Brighton today —  sit a point above the drop zone and are battling for their lives.

Benitez deployed a back five against City, with four in midfield, and the hosts had just 22 per cent of possession.

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But asked if the backlash would stop him from using those tactics again, he replied: “No. I will do what I have to do to win for my team, that’s it. I didn’t hear any criticism from my players.

“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.”