Newcastle Utd boss slams Bellamy for sending off
Trevor Huggins
Angry Newcastle United boss Bobby Robson branded Craig Bellamy "irresponsible and unprofessional" after his fifth minute red card cost them a 4-1 Champions League defeat to Inter Milan on Wednesday.
Bellamy, who was banned for three matches in the first phase after an off-the-ball incident at Dynamo Kiev, was guilty of a similar offence after lashing out at Marco Materazzi in their opening Group A match of the second phase at St James' Park.
Clearly indicating that the club will take disciplinary action against the Welshman, Robson said: "It's an internal matter which we will deal with in the appropriate fashion.
"It was irresponsible and unprofessional and for that the club have suffered. Those only are the only two words I would use."
But he added later: "It was a major blow to us. We lost one of our matchwinners -- he won us the match at Feyenoord," referring to the 3-2 win a fortnight ago which booked Newcastle a place in the second phase.
"Of course it was a turning point. We were only 1-0 down. With 11 players we might have got back...it just denied us the chance...I'd be angry with any player who did that."
As for Matias Almeyda's stunning 35th minute goal, Robson said: "The ball gets kicked out from a corner, Bellamy's sitting in the dressing room, can't mark the guy and he hits a 25-yarder into the back of the net...we're 2-0 down. End of the game, basically."
However, Robson said he was proud of the remaining 10 Newcastle players on the pitch after their nightmare opening.
CRUEL GAME
"We got off to the most horrible, cruel start imaginable at this particular level," said Robson, who had been working on his men after Saturday's 5-3 defeat to Manchester United -- only to fall behind to Domenico Morfeo's second minute strike.
"You'd have thought I'd been in Hawaii for the last three days after you saw the first goal -- but I assure you I haven't," he said. "To concede a goal in the first minute again is quite unbelievable."
But getting right behind his men, he said: "I'm proud of the players...you can't take the three goals out of the first half but in between we were every bit as good as them.
"Second half, we were better than them until the last 10 minutes when (Stephane) Dalmat and (Alvaro) Recoba were on.
"I think the team was magnificent...the lads in my opinion gave absolutely everything in terms of energy and commitment and never let us down.
"It was quite a different performance to Saturday," said Robson, who did have criticism though for French referee Stephane Bre for failing to sanction Fabio Cannavaro's challenges on Alan Shearer.
Inter manager Hector Cuper paid tribute to his team, saying: "Inter had a fantastic game and showed real confidence.
"I knew at 3-0 down Newcastle would play as they did and they had to take a lot of risks and we all know how determined English sides are."
