Newcastle United seem to be Gary Neville and Jamie Carragher's favourite weekly punching bag - but every single bit of criticism directed at the Magpies by the duo on Monday Night Football this week was thoroughly merited. Neville described Newcastle as a club in "free-fall" right now following their club-record eighth-straight Premier League, while his fellow Sky Sports pundit Carragher blasted the Magpies as "shambles". John Carver's side meekly surrendered 3-0 to Leicester City at the King Power Stadium - having two players dismissed for two bookings in the process - and the club then descended into a mini civil war as the interim head coach accused Mike Williamson of "deliberately" getting sent off, before club-captain Fabricio Coloccini and goalkeeper Tim Krul allegedly exchanged words on the coach after the game. The Magpies sit just two points and three places above 18th-placed Sunderland, with Leicester City, Hull City and Aston Villa also still very-much in the relegation mix. Yet Newcastle have serious downward momentum right now and the Sky Sports pundits fear for the club's Premier League future. Speaking on Sky Sports' Monday Night Football, during the coverage of Arsenal's 3-1 victory over the Magpies' relegation-rivals Hull, Neville tore into Newcastle, saying:
Newcastle are the team that are most interesting at the moment because they are in free fall. Im a little bit surprised (the club backed Carver) because I thought after hearing the comments on Saturday it felt like John Carver didnt want to be amongst those players any more, hed had enough of them. "You talk about managers losing dressing rooms - I think the dressing room had lost the manager. It was as if hes basically a fan, hes emotional and he cant hide his feelings at all. I dont think John Carver thinks hes got a good group and I dont think the players, after what he said about them, probably think too much of him either. I think its a case of we need to come together for the football club, because Newcastle is bigger than any of those individuals. He hurts badly, John Carver. He wants the players to hurt as much.
Carragher, meanwhile, joined in the tirade - blasting Newcastle as a "shambles" for conceding less than 40 seconds into the Leicester match having lost possession straight from their own kick-off. He added:
It was a shambles. It started very early on with the kick-off. The fact that Newcastle have two players wide theres obviously a plan. You dont just stand there for no reason but the big mistake was the position of Ryan Taylor. It may seem a small thing but it contributes to the first goal. Hes too close to the takers which allows the Leicester players to get in close and close him down. Because hes so close, Jack Colback thinks it must be a first-time pass for him. Taylors position was all wrong. Straight away they were under pressure.
Newcastle have just three games to save their Premier League status - at home to West Bromwich Albion on Sunday, followed by a trip to Loftus Road to face Queens Park Rangers, and their season finishes with a match against Sam Allardyce's West Ham United at St James' Park. For all the latest NUFC News, Views and Transfers make sure to follow WhatCultureNUFC on Twitter and Facebook.
NUFC editor for WhatCulture.com/NUFC. History graduate (University of Edinburgh) and NCTJ-trained journalist. I love sports, hopelessly following Newcastle United and Newcastle Falcons. My pastimes include watching and attending sports matches religiously, reading spy books and sampling ales.
