OPINION
Newcastle United currently find themselves rock bottom of the Premier League after their winless start to the season continued with a 1-0 loss to Brighton on Saturday.
Everybody at the club is no doubt starting to feel nervous about their league prospects this season, and there is one man who is at the forefront of it all – Rafa Benitez.
He is the man that everybody is looking at when things are going wrong – but he certainly has not helped himself after the comments he made after the defeat to the Seagulls.
The Spaniard was quoted as saying that he hopes to find three teams worse than Newcastle this season – and beIN SPORTS pundit Andy Gray, who along with co-host Richard Keys is an unpopular figure with the Toon Army, has laid into the manager for his remarks.
He told the broadcaster: “Was that Rafa who said it? He shouldn’t have said it. That’s wrong, that’s a bit like David Moyes when he went into Sunderland and he says ‘From day one we’ll be fighting a relegation battle.
“You cannot say that to the fans. The fans have stuck by him, big time. What is the difference between this year and last year? He’s not producing the goods at the moment, he’s got to turn it round very, very quickly.”
Gray has hit the nail on the head – Benitez simply cannot be making comments such as these, as they are likely to raise the hopes of many fans.
What supporters do not need is false hope being thrown at them, and Benitez of all people should be able to recognise that.
At the moment, there is no worse team off than United are – even Cardiff City managed to get off the marker and secure a win at the weekend.
And for Benitez, he should know a lot better than to point out something so ridiculous.
The Spaniard does not often get it wrong with the Magpies, but on this occasion, he did – and he has given false hope to fans.
