Ben-Haim disciplined for outburst

Israeli defender had been quoted by The Sun as saying he felt "nothing good would come" when Grant took over from Jose Mourinho.

By JEREMY LAST
ben-haim (photo credit: )
ben-haim
(photo credit: )
Chelsea wasted no time in punishing Israeli defender Tal Ben-Haim for his outburst against coach Avraham Grant printed in a British tabloid on Wednesday, hitting the center back with a reported £80,000 fine. The sum, detailed in The Sun newspaper on Thursday, represents two weeks wages, the maximum fine the club is allowed to impose according to Premier League rules. Ben-Haim had been quoted by The Sun as saying that he felt "nothing good would come" when Grant took over from Jose Mourinho last September. He was also reported as saying: "Jose Mourinho is the reason I came to Chelsea and if I knew Avraham Grant was going to be the coach then I would have signed for another club." Ben-Haim moved to Chelsea from Bolton in the summer and featured in the majority of the club's games until Mourinho quit and was replaced by Grant. Meanwhile, Israel captain Yossi Benayoun may also be disappointed at not having played many minutes for Liverpool in recent weeks, but received great praise from the club's coach Rafa Benitez this week. "We know he is a player that has game intelligence so sometimes he can score, but especially he can create something different and he is always a problem for defenders. I am really pleased with him," Benitez said of Benayoun in an interview published on the club's official Web site. "Yossi hasn't started as many games as he perhaps would have liked but how useful a player is he to have in your squad? I think he is a different kind of player we can use." "In some games when you cannot control and can't create too much because the other team is deep and compact you need players with creativity. Yossi can do this. He can give passes and score goals." Benayoun has had a great impact at the Anfield club, impressing the boss. "He has scored 10 goals for you this season which is not a bad return for a midfield player is it? No, it's good. I think it's a good number. It could be more and in a few weeks we will see but 10 goals is a good number for a midfielder," Benitez said.