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John Carver now blames players for FA Cup team selection v Leicester

9 years ago
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John Carver has belatedly blamed the players for the weakened FA Cup team selection at Leicester, when seven changes were made.

Back at the start of the year in the lead up to that match, Carver’s second in charge after Pardew’s departure, the now Newcastle Head Coach had said how he was going to play a strong team etc etc.

The reality was that just like Alan Pardew had done before him, John Carver only played four players who had started the previous Premier League match.

After that predictable cup defeat, John Carver claimed that all of the players he’d left out were injured, apart from Ayoze Perez who needed a rest.

However, now Carver has changed tack and appears to be suggesting that it was the players themselves who didn’t want to play in that cup game.

Pardew’s former assistant saying that players came to him with ‘slight strains and pulls’ and ‘it started niggling me a little bit’.

Steven Taylor picked up a season ending injury in  the Burnley (pre-Leicester) match but the other six who played v Burnley  and then missed Leicester, all started against Chelsea in the next Premier League match after that FA Cup defeat.

The six were Ayoze Perez, Fabricio Coloccini, Moussa Sissoko, Jack Colback, Daryl Janmaat and Yoan Gouffran.

With the exception of Gouffran, pretty much Newcastle’s best five players.

So if John Carver wants to now blame the players for opting out, rather than him following Mike Ashley’s orders and fielding a weak team in the cups – surely he should say which of these players  were ‘niggling’ him when they didn’t want to bother with the FA Cup.

John Carver

“No one wants to win the FA Cup and have a dream of the FA Cup more than me. Being realistic, are we going to win the Premier League?

“I would not have thought so unless you have an unbelievably freaky season, we are not going to do that.”

It’s hard enough to make top 4…:

“It is hard enough trying to make the top four. So what can you win? Either the FA Cup or League Cup.

“I am telling you now, I wanted to win the FA Cup and circumstances meant that was not the case.”

Started niggling me a bit..:

“Listen I was quite excited before the Leicester game and then players started coming to me with slight strains and pulls, it started niggling me a little bit.

“I didn’t mention it to you lot (press) but it was bugging me because of how much I wanted to win it.”

The agenda from the club appears to be more and more to blame both players and fans for the problems at Newcastle United, to deflect attention away from the one person at the top who we all know has undermined the hopes and expectations of Newcastle fans for years.

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