The Sunderland boss believes the Spaniard’s methods will tire his Newcastle players during the closing weeks of the season and will lead to a crippling injury list.
Allardyce scoffed at the idea of Benitez increasing the workload on Tyneside when he arrived in March, stating then that he would be doing ‘the opposite’ and would instead afford his squad more time off.
Rafa Benitez's battle to beat the drop has been hindered by injuries to key Newcastle players
The Black Cats manager has since named an unchanged side in the last five matches and has every senior player available to him.
Indeed, Allardyce points to the injuries at other clubs where foreign coaches have introduced extra sessions.
Benitez has seen defenders Daryl Janmaat and Steven Taylor both succumb to muscle problems, while skipper Fabricio Coloccini has suffered a setback and will miss the rest of the season with a calf strain.
Stand-in right back Vurnon Anita, meanwhile, picked up an injury during Saturday’s 1-0 win over Crystal Palace, a victory which takes the Magpies out of the drop zone and one point above Sunderland.
But Allardyce said: ‘You get the foreign coaches coming in, “Woah, I’m a foreign coach, I’ll do two sessions a day”.
‘And then three or four months later, he’s got 14 injuries, and I go, “Wow, carry on”.
Sam Allardyce believes the Spaniard’s methods will tire his Newcastle players during season finale
‘Man United, Louis van Gaal - “Woah, two sessions a day, we’ll get them fit”. Ha ha, 14 injuries, ha ha ha. ‘He (Benitez) will probably get more injuries later on. And that’s what happens with them. You do two sessions a day here, for 10 months, and they will all get injured.
‘It is proven. It has happened time and time and time again. And everyone goes, “Ooh, wonderful”.’ Allardyce also says he is not surprised by Newcastle’s revival under Benitez, if only because of ‘the huge amount of money’ they have spent this season.
The 61-year-old is certainly turning up the heat on his rival bosses as the fight for survival intensifies.
Alan Pardew was furious with his ‘pre-historic’ comments after he claimed last week that Palace would have ‘been on the pop’ after reaching the FA Cup Final and would lose at St James’ Park.
But Andros Townsend - scorer of Newcastle’s winning goal against Palace - says the pressure is now on Sunderland, who have a game in hand but are back in the bottom three.
Sunderland boss is turning up the heat on his rival bosses as the fight for survival intensifies
‘That’s why you would rather have points on the board than games in hand,’ he said.
‘We have got points on the board, we are above the relegation zone, and it is down to the other teams now to pick up points. ‘We have done our job, we continue to do our job and hopefully the other teams around us drop points.
‘If we win the next two games and it is not enough, what can we do?’
Meanwhile, Townsend says his relegation to the reserves at Spurs before his £12million move to Newcastle allowed him time to practise the free-kick technique which saw him net his stunning winner on Saturday.
‘It’s a funny story, when I was thrown into the Under-21s by Spurs, I used to stay for hours just practising free-kicks, left foot and right, until the fitness coaches came out and told us to save our legs,’ he said. ‘All that stuff pays off when you score in front of 52,000 people to help your team get three points.’