Short of wearing a Sunderland shirt in the dugout, it is difficult to imagine what more John Carver could have done to convince Newcastle United supporters he is not the right man to take over from Alan Pardew.
On the field Newcastle, much weakened by Carver’s decision to make seven changes to ensure key players are available for the Premier League game at Chelsea, played without cohesion or belief. Off it, the manner in which the 49-year-old presented his credentials for a job defined by the club as that of head coach rather than manager sounded jarringly shallow.
The derision of the vast majority of 4,219 travelling supporters was still ringing in his ears when he was asked if could he improve Newcastle. “That’s a million-dollar question, we’re in a good position at the moment,” Carver said, on the back of a fifth defeat in seven games.
“Listen, everything I’ve ever gone into I want to win, right? I want to be the best. If I didn’t have confidence in my own ability I’d just walk away. I wouldn’t throw my hat in the ring. I’d just lie down. I’ve got a five-and-a-half-year contract, I’d stay at the club. But no, I’m prepared to take that challenge.”
The only communication Carver said he has had with the United hierarchy is a short conversation with the managing director, Lee Charnley, last Monday when he was told to prepare the team to face Burnley in the Premier League – a match that finished 3-3 after Newcastle had led 2-1 – and Leicester in the FA Cup.
“I thought in the game against Burnley we played some really good football in the first 45 minutes. We were disappointing in the second half and now the physical data has come back, Burnley just overran us, we had no legs in the team.
“I’ve prepared and organised this team as best I can. I put the best team on the pitch in the circumstances, I’m not going to cower away from it, I’m big enough and strong enough to say, ‘Yes, I would like this job’.”
Carver listed the minor injuries that prevented him selecting Daryl Janmaat (groin), Moussa Sissoko and Jack Colback (both tight hamstrings), and Fabricio Coloccini (nerve leading into buttock). Only the young Spanish forward Ayoze Pérez, he said, had been rested because of tiredness. “The future of this club is over the next few weeks and it was important we got people fully fit for the next game.”
It is true Newcastle were unfortunate to have Rémy Cabella’s first-half finish, cleverly set up by Emmanuel Rivière’s backheel flick, incorrectly ruled out for offside. That was pretty much the only chance they created and Leicester’s winner, a Leo Ulloa header from a Matt James cross, was the least an improving team deserved.
It took two outstanding saves by Jak Alnwick, from Chris Wood and the excellent Marc Albrighton, to prevent Leicester making the scoreline a more accurate reflection of the game.
The disgust of the supporters who had travelled to Leicester was directed at the owner, Mike Ashley, rather than Carver, though the overwhelming opinion on websites popular with United fans is that Carver would simply be regarded as Ashley’s puppet.
It is probably as well for a decent man that the bookmakers now regard him as an outsider, with the former Lyon manager and Arsenal midfielder, Rémi Garde, as well as the St Etienne head coach, Christophe Galtier, among those being offered at shorter odds.
The Newcastle winger Hatem Ben Arfa, having failed to impress on loan at Hull, is expected to join Nice if he passes a medical.
On the back of his excellent performance, and because fellow wide midfielders Jeff Schlupp and Riyad Mahrez are heading for the Africa Cup of Nations, Albrighton is likely to get an extended opportunity to establish himself after struggling to break into the first team since joining Leicester last summer.
“I’ve been trying my hardest and for whatever reason it hasn’t happened for me but if the manager decides to play me I’m ready,” said the former Aston Villa player.
Man of the match Marc Albrighton (Leicester)
