Paul Merson has taken aim at Newcastle United and Rafa Benitez with a comprehensive rant about the current situation at St James Park.
Newcastle have endured a torrid start to the new season and have failed to win a single game.
Benitez’s side have picked up just two points in the Premier League and sit third bottom of the fledgling table.
They were also dumped out of the Carabao Cup 3-1 by Nottingham Forest.
Poor performances on the pitch are set against the backdrop of continued unrest off it at St James Park.
Magpies fans adore Benitez and continue to push for the hugely unpopular Mike Ashley to sell up to a more ambitious owner.
Newcastle finished 10th last season, an achievement widely praised in football circles given what Benitez had at his disposal.
But Sky Sports pundit Paul Merson slammed Newcastle fans’ hero worship of the Spaniard on Sky Sports’ The Debate.
Merson was highly critical of the way Benitez was going about things on Tyneside, defended Ashley and even suggested he has the best job in football due to a lack of pressure as a result of his hero status.
And the pundit also questioned the signing of Salomon Rondon and the decisions to let Dwight Gayle and Aleksandar Mitrovic leave the club.
“They don’t go out to win games, it’s not like they go out gung-ho and it’s like ‘We’ll have a go’ it’s ‘Make sure we don’t lose’,” Merson said on The Debate.
“You’ve got a manager that can’t do anything wrong and they’re third bottom, can’t score a goal, haven’t won a game and he’s a hero, it’s unbelievable.
“Any other manager, the fans would be going mad. I mean Rondon does he play, does he not play, the start of the season for all the signings they had not one of them played.
“He’s playing a good game the manager, clever.
“If you looked at it last season, they finished 10th, but the points difference between them weren’t great.
“The fans don’t like Mike Ashley, but he bought the club and I don’t see anyone else coming forward to buy it, he put his money where his mouth is and sometimes I think he gets stick that he shouldn’t get if I’m being honest but Benitez is there now and for me he’s got the best job in football if I’m being honest.
“I think so (it was a mistake to let Mitrovic go) and I think something has happened between them two and that was it. Sometimes don’t chop your nose of to spite your face do you know what I mean?
“And the other one is Gayle, I know he has dropped a league to West Brom, but he’s scoring goals, he was always one of those lively players that opened the game up.
“You look at Newcastle and there’s not electric pace in the team and I think Gayle was another one that shouldn’t have left really and Mitrovic is coming back to haunt them really.”
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