Thursday 19 March 2015 15:43, UK
Newcastle coach John Carver has hit back at claims his side is already 'on the beach' as he tries to deal with a growing injury crisis.
Carver was furious with comments made by former England international Phil Neville on Match Of The Day on Sunday when, in the wake of their 3-0 defeat at Everton, he voiced his opinion that some members of the Newcastle squad "had their flip-flops on."
"I was pretty angry when I heard it because he couldn't be any further from the truth," Carver said.
"I think it's insulting and I think it's wrong, especially from ex-players. I'm sure if they were playing now, they wouldn't like the comments, as I didn't.
"What I did do was to inform the players about what these people had been saying. I thought it was important that they knew.
"Now it's down to ourselves to show those people out there that we've not got our flip-flops on - although we might today, because it's sunny!"
But Carver's hopes of a big performance at home to Arsenal on Saturday might not be helped by his squad having been reduced to the bare bones by injury and suspension.
He will have only 13 outfield players to call upon in the wake of their failure to overturn the red card shown to Fabricio Coloccini against Everton.
"The good news is that I've not got a selection problem because I've only got 13 fit senior players, plus two 'keepers, so that won't be too difficult," Carver added.
"There's no sign of anyone coming back in the near future other than Mehdi Abeid, who is a week or so away. We're working on Rolando Aarons, everyone else is more or less long-term.
"Siem de Jong went outside for a work-out for the first time today, which was nice to see."
Meanwhile, Carver defended the decision to challenge Coloccini's dismissal for a foul on Aaron Lennon despite the outcome.
He said: "I spoke to some well-known people in the game and they all said it was a yellow card. It wasn't just out of hope, we genuinely thought we could overturn it."
