Newcastle United boss Rafa Benitez has been branded boring by his former Liverpool midfielder Jermaine Pennant.

Pennant, writing in his book, Mental: Bad Behaviour, Ugly Truths and the Beautiful Game, also describes Benitez as the "most difficult" manager he played for.

He stated: "On the pitch, often I can see what's best. Ultimately you have to trust the players once they cross the white line. But with Rafa, it was constant directions.

"Just sometimes, he might as well have turned a player into an Xbox, dressed me up like RoboCop and put a picture of my face on it. I'm not a defensive midfielder. I'm not James Milner, who keeps it simple. I'm a flair player and do my own thing. But his constant instructions really restricted me. They stopped me from being free. He could never let me do my thing.

"When you have so many instructions, it makes it so difficult. You've got some instructions and tactics in your mind and yet he's shouting even more at you. All of a sudden you're confused. You've got two sets of instructions in your mind and you're left wondering what to do. It means that, suddenly, you mess up with a simple pass because your mind is all over the place.

"Honestly, Rafa was a nightmare like that."