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Rafael Benitez hits back at criticism of Newcastle's approach to Manchester City game

Rafael Benitez has insisted he would do the same again after brushing off criticism of Newcastle's safety-first approach against Manchester City.

The Spaniard was slammed by television pundits for his defensive tactics in Wednesday night's 1-0 defeat by the Premier League leaders, with former Manchester United defender Gary Neville particularly scathing of the ex-Liverpool manager's bus-parking exercise.

But asked if it would stop him doing it again, he replied: "No. I will do what I have to do to win for my team, that's it.

"The last games that we saw - Bournemouth, Tottenham, Huddersfield and Swansea - against Manchester City, Huddersfield, they lost 2-1 and they had chances and they were deep, defending and counter-attack; and the others passing, passing - [conceded] four, four, four.