Rafa Benitez slams critics who label Newcastle as boring: 'I don't pay much attention to those who say we are... I don't agree with that'

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Rafa Benitez has hit back at those who have labelled his Newcastle side boring.

The Magpies were criticised in some quarters in the wake of Monday’s 1-0 loss at Burnley, their third away defeat by the same scoreline this season.

But Benitez insists he is simply getting the best from the players available to him and, with Newcastle currently ninth in the table, he believes his tactics are justified.

Rafa Benitez has hit back at critics who have labelled Newcastle as a boring team 

‘I do not think we are a boring team, I don’t pay too much attention to those who say we are,’ said the Spaniard ahead of Saturday’s visit of Bournemouth.

‘I don’t agree with that. People used to say when I was at Liverpool, “Oh, he’s defensive”. No, we are not defensive, we are well-organised, that is different.

‘We attack and we create - we had 12 attempts versus Burnley. But we also defend well, we have good balance and organisation.

‘We don’t go away to think about a draw, we always want to win. But it depends on the players that you have.

‘Sometimes, with teams who play in the Champions League, you see players coming from the bench costing more than those on the pitch. That means they have different tools.

‘We have a team who work together very well and that's why we are able to achieve what we have. If you say, “You have to be more attractive”, maybe we’d be conceding goals all the time and losing games.

Newcastle were criticised by some following their narrow 1-0 defeat by Burnley on Monday 

‘We are in a good position now and we are not as bad as people think. The strikers maybe do need to score more, but we are quite good when compared to others.

‘Just three teams have scored more goals (10) than us in the 14 teams at the bottom. No-one has conceded (nine) less than us. We have the balance.’

Meanwhile, Benitez has made it clear that Jack Colback has no future at the club and will keep him away from the first-team training ground.

Midfielder Mikel Merino has been sidelined with a back injury and will be out for at least two weeks, raising the question of Colback returning to the squad.

But Benitez says there is no chance of the £40,000-per-week anchorman being handed a reprieve.

Sportsmail revealed in August that Colback had refused to join in a practice match having been told by the manager that he could leave the club and he was then told to train permanently with Peter Beardsley's Under-23s.

That move failed to materialise with the 28-year-old preferring to remain at home on Tyneside.

Benitez has ruled out any possibility of Jack Colback returning to the Newcastle first-team 

And Benitez said: ‘He knows what the situation is and we will continue working with the players we have available now.

‘He knew from the beginning that we have four or five midfielders and I didn't want to have six. We couldn't manage to move any more players out at the end of the transfer window and you can't train as well with as many players around in the same position, I didn't want that.’

And Benitez says he would rather use out-of-favour defender Chancel Mbemba as an emergency midfielder than recall Colback.

‘We have the international break now and we have enough players in that position, we have Chancel Mbemba who can even play in midfield,’ he added.

‘Without Merino, we can play Mo Diame, Jonjo Shelvey, Isaac Hayden and Henri Saivet.

‘If we need anything else, we can also play Mbemba, he played there in the Africa Cup of Nations.’