Andy Gray launches attack on Benitez after his ‘unacceptable’ comments – “You can’t say that!”

And Gray has slammed Rafa Benitez for his comments after Saturday’s defeat to Brighton – feeling that it was ‘wrong’ for him to say ‘we have to hope there are three worse teams in the league’.

The former Sky Sports pundit also goes on to point the finger at the Spaniard for our awful start to the new season, saying Ashley has given him ’15 or 16′ players over the past few seasons and isn’t the man who picks the team.

Rafa’s comments may not fill too many fans with confidence, but he’s not wrong. The simple fact of the matter is that this is what it’s come to after Ashley’s lack of ambition or investment – hoping there’s three teams worse than us this season.

Here’s what Gray has had to say during his latest appearance on BeIN Sports alongside a certain Richard Keys:

“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.

“You can blame Mike Ashley all you want, for a lack of funds. 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.”

Another example of Gray not getting his facts straight (we’ve played five of the top six so far not four), siding with Ashley and making statements clearly manufactured to support his argument.

We may have signed 15 or 16 players over the past three years, but I’d LOVE to know how many of these were Rafa’s first choice since we sealed promotion last summer.

Rafa may have a responsibility to turn things around on the pitch, but where was the mention of Ashley’s responsibility to stick to his promise and give Benitez ‘every penny’ generated over the summer? He now has a BIG responsibility to repair the damage he’s created and spend in January.

The criticism of us not getting any points off the top six is petty too, with us losing by a single goal against Tottenham, Chelsea, Man City, Arsenal and Man Utd. Yes, Wolves got a point against City, but they also spent over £80m this summer Andy.