A furious John Carver accused his centre-back Mike Williamson of deliberately getting sent off during Newcastle’s 3-0 defeat at Leicester. Carver went on to denounce the attitude of almost all of his players, as he condemned his team as “a soft touch”.
Williamson was shown a red card in the second half for chopping down Jamie Vardy as both players chased the ball over the sideline. He will now be suspended for two of Newcastle’s final three matches as the club attempt to avoid sinking into the relegation zone.
“I thought he meant it,” said Carver of the challenge. “My first reaction when he was five yards away was ‘don’t do it’ and he did it. Vardy is off the pitch, Willo is off the pitch and the ball is off the pitch, there’s no need to do it. I’m not accepting that.”
Carver said that he confronted Williamson with the allegation in the dressing room, but he declined to reveal the player’s response. Williamson was not the only player sent off on a wretched day for the visitors, who also had Daryl Janmaat dismissed in the last minute for a second bookable offence. The heavy defeat extended Newcastle’s losing streak to eight matches and leaves them at risk of relegation.
The manager was particularly aghast at what he considered cowardly defending by his players, who conceded two goals in the first 17 minutes from set pieces. “I can’t give players desire to go out and get a broken nose, get a cut eye,” he said. “I can’t affect marking at set plays. We’re a soft touch. When the ball comes into the box, we’re not prepared to put our heads in.”
Several Newcastle players trudged to applaud the 2,000 travelling fans after the final whistle, but the supporters responded by pouring scorn on them. Carver says he understood the suggestions that his players had been “gutless and spineless” during the match.
“I can’t disagree with that. The fans had a go at them at the end and basically said: ‘We don’t want to see you.’ I don’t blame them. If I had been in the stand, I’d have done the same thing.”
Carver exonerated the midfielder Jack Colback from his criticism. “If I had 11 Jack Colbacks in the dressing room, the fans would be saying different things. They’d be heroes. All they want is people who are prepared to work hard, give everything, show determination and desire.”
Asked whether he was concerned that his public criticism of his players may further damage morale in the squad, Carver said his players need to “grow up and take it on the chin”. “I’ve had criticism in the last few weeks but I ain’t crumbled, I ain’t disappeared. We’ve got to stand up and be counted.”