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‘Best Coach in the Premier League’ John Carver is back and giving tips to Steve Bruce

4 years ago
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Amongst all of the mad/bizarre things to have happened under Mike Ashley, giving the top job to John Carver was surely one of truly most crazy periods of these 13 seasons.

Carver almost relegated Newcastle from a seemingly impossible middle of the season position after Alan Pardew walked out in December 2014.

In his first 19 games in charge Newcastle only won two, then the very final PL game saw a 2-0 win over West Ham that finally guaranteed staying up.

Mike Ashley was desperate to give John Carver the job full-time but even he had to admit this was a 100% route to disaster.

Those two wins in his first 19 matches were a 1-0 win at home to Aston Villa and his crowning achievement being a 3-0 win at Hull, who were managed by…Steve Bruce.

You certainly couldn’t deny the entertainment factor of Carver’s press conferences, as he even outdid Alan Pardew in claiming the unbelievable. Perhaps the very best was when with only three games to go after losing eight matches in a row, John Carver declared: ‘I still think I’m the best coach in the Premier League.’

He has been out of the spotlight for a while but now he is back and I hate to say it but I actually agree with most of what he is saying.

John Carver has been talking about Miguel Almiron and basically says that Steve Bruce is playing him in totally the wrong position.

Which I 100% agree with. We saw last season what a difference Almiron made at Newcastle playing in his usual left side role of a front three and allowed to move in centrally when he wanted to, to provide more of a threat.

It is ludicrous for Steve Bruce to continue playing him on the right wing, especially as he ends up getting the ball usually so close to his own box, due to Bruce’s over the top negative tactics.

I agree as well with Carver’s assertion that Almiron is a great grafter and indeed fans are far more supportive of the Paraguayan, as compared to the media wanting to make him a scapegoat. Although I’m not sure about John Carver saying the former Atlanta United star is still a young player, he turns 26 in February and probably more accurate to say that he is still inexperienced at Premier League level after making only 22 PL starts so far.

Carver suggests Steve Bruce should drop/rest Miguel Almiron and maybe Allan Saint-Maximin as well.

I don’t really agree. It is more a case of Bruce needing to stop being so negative and defending so deep, to find tactics and formation that gets the best out of Almiron and ASM, as well as Joelinton.

John Carver – 7 May 2015:

“I still think I’m the best coach in the Premier League.

“That’s what I think.

“Now there’s nothing wrong with that but I still do.

“If I have the right tools, I can do the job.

“I’m doing the job to the best of my ability at the moment and I’ll continue doing that for the next three weeks.”

John Carver speaking to Talksport:

“I watched Almiron play closely in the MLS and his movement was good, his finishing was good, he used to set up players and get in the right areas.

“I think that it might be time for the staff to have look at what he did at Atlanta and those positions he got into.

“He is a good player, I (also) think Allan-Saint Maximin is a good player.

“I think it is time for one of those, if not two of those, to have a little bit of a rest.

“You forget how young he is (Almiron turns 26 in February) and he looks like he has the world on his shoulders at the moment.

“The thing is, he does put in a great shift.

“We always moan about players who don’t work hard enough for the team but certainly this player does.

“But his body language is starting to show his slump in form and it may be just the right time to pull him out of the firing line.”

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