Sunday 19 April 2015 20:16, UK
Newcastle manager John Carver admits his team are looking over their shoulder at the clubs below them in the Premier League.
Carver’s side slipped to their sixth straight defeat in the league as they were beaten 3-1 at home by Tottenham on Super Sunday and remain just seven points above the relegation zone with five games remaining.
Since the turn of the year, Newcastle have taken just nine Premier League points and would be in the relegation zone if the season had started on Boxing Day.
With games to come against relegation-threatened Leicester and Queens Park Rangers, Carver admits he is slightly worried about becoming embroiled in the scrap for survival.
“I said before this game that we’ve got to look over our shoulder to see what’s going on,” Carver said.
“We haven’t got to worry about that. We have to try and take care of our business and it’s up to us to do that.”
The build-up to the game was dominated by fans’ protests over Mike Ashley’s ownership of the club and although a mass boycott was avoided the attendance of 47,427 was the club's lowest of the season.
The fans aired their displeasure at full-time with a chorus of boos and Carver admitted the atmosphere inside the stadium made his team very nervous in the early stages.
“I thought everybody was nervous and tentative at the start of the game,” he said.
“But we got a great start to the second half, the early goal gave us a bit of momentum.
“But then we concede a poor goal and went behind. The third goal comes at a stage when we were pushing. The one thing I will say is that these guys keep going and having a go but sometimes they might not be good enough. It’s disappointing but it’s my job to find a solution.”
