Carver: Toon not 'on beach' after second half

Earlier in the week, Carver had reacted angrily to comments from former Manchester United and Everton man Phil Neville that Newcastle "had their flip-flops on" during last weekend's 3-0 loss at Goodison Park.

Newcastle were well below par in that reverse on Merseyside but demonstrated great fight after falling 2-0 down against Arsenal.

Moussa Sissoko halved the deficit in the 48th minute and Newcastle were unfortunate not to find a leveller, with a string of saves from David Ospina preserving victory for Arsenal.

And Carver said: "People said we had our flip-flops on but if you saw our second-half performance that's not the case. I'll keep driving the players on.

"They want to keep working and keep having a go. The criticism was a bit surprising because it came from an ex-player, and they know what we have to go through, but we certainly weren't on the beach today."