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Rafa Benitez dismisses criticism of Newcastle tactics - 'I will not waste time on that'
Rafa Benitez may have been criticised for turning Newcastle United’s game against Manchester City into a damage limitation exercise, but he believes Pep Guardiola’s dominance of the Premier League will only be temporary.
Like most teams, Newcastle put ten men behind the ball against City and tried to catch them on the break, yet Benitez’s negative approach has been savagely attacked by some pundits, led by the former Manchester United defender Gary Neville.
Benitez was unapologetic, insisting he would do the same thing again if he plays a team as superior as City are, while pointing out that it is easy to be a pundit in a television studio, paid to say controversial things.
It was a gentle dig at Neville and his former Liverpool player Jamie Carragher, as was the reference to the fact he was so successful at Valencia – where he won two league titles – the club where Neville failed in his only job as a club manager.
Benitez would not be drawn into expanding on either comment and instead expressed his view that the Premier League has too many strong teams and rich clubs to allow City to dominate the competition for a sustained period.
“You have seen the same in other leagues,” said Benitez. “The teams have to do the right things in the [transfer] window and be closer.
“The difference with the other leagues, you go to Germany or Spain, is that here you have five or six teams that can compete financially. They have the resources to compete. This is totally different to other leagues.
"Leicester won the league, and nobody was expecting in 100 years that that could happen. Why? Because the other teams were in transition and made some mistakes.
"At this moment, it's very difficult for them [City] to lose the title. In the future? You never know. With the money that everyone can spend, anything can happen. The teams with the most money win the league.”
Asked about Neville’s own managerial career – he lasted just four months at Valencia before he was sacked – Benitez’s response can best be described as barbed diplomacy.
“I don’t want to go down this route,” he said. “Valencia is Valencia. I won two titles with Valencia and the Uefa Cup. They are [sic] at the top of the table. Why? Because Valencia is a massive club and a massive city, but I don’t want to go this way…
“I will not waste too much time on that [criticism from pundits]. I had the same in Spain and Italy. They have to say something because they need the audience, and then you have to understand they are doing a job that is totally different. They don't take any responsibility and they can make mistakes and the day after, it doesn't matter.
“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 and that's it.”