Newcastle sit bottom of the Premier League after nine matches.
Andy Gray has slammed Newcastle United manager Rafa Benitez on BeIN Sports for his comments after Saturday’s 1-0 loss to Brighton, as well as defending owner Mike Ashley.
Newcastle sit rock bottom of the Premier League table after nine matches, losing seven of those and picking up draws against Cardiff City and Crystal Palace.
Fans have backed Benitez, as have the majority of players, with criticism being pointed at owner Ashley for his lack of investment in the summer – with The Toon spending less than they brought in from player sales.
But Gray disregarded that, and instead chose to criticise the Newcastle manager ans his tactics. He also slammed Benitez for saying, as quoted by The Times: “We hope to find three teams worse than us.”
“You can blame Mike Ashley all you want, for a lack of funds,” Gray said. “In the last two or three seasons, 15 or 16 players have arrived. Ashley does not pick the team. When August comes around, only one man picks the team; Rafa Benitez.
“People will say they’ve played four of the top six, but Wolves got a point against Man City. The next seven games, fans will be thinking they can win them. But teams will be looking at Newcastle and thinking we can win that.
“He shouldn’t have said ‘we have to hope there are three worse teams in the league.’ That was wrong. You cannot say that to fans. He has the responsibility, he’s not producing the goods. He has to turn it round, very quickly.”
Newcastle are next in action on Saturday afternoon in the Premier League, travelling down to the south coast to face Mark Hughes’ Southampton in which The Toon will feel they could win.
Defenders Ciaran Clark and Florian Lejeune will remain on the sidelines, as will youngster Jamie Sterry, but striker Salomon Rondon could finally overcome a thigh injury in time to find the Saints.
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