Gary Neville couldn’t believe his eyes on Sky Sports’ Monday Night Football after the Newcastle players didn’t walk out together prior to their defeat to Chelsea.
Usually, both sets of players would emerge from the tunnel, but in Newcastle’s case, the players were coming out in a sporadic manner.
Both Allan Saint-Maximin and Isaac Hayden were the last of the Newcastle players to walk out and take to their usual starting positions.
Neville was left raging in the Sky studios at the actions from the Newcastle players, as he urged them to ‘be together’ when walking out onto the pitch.
“Where’s the rest of the team, you have half the team walking out?” said Neville. “But be together when you walk out onto the pitch!”
Carragher jokingly responded by saying: “Are you blaming Steve Bruce or Rafa for that?”
Neville then responded: “How many players have they got? (Host David Jones queried nine so far). Have they had someone sent off?
“You don’t leave the dressing room until all of you are together.”
Well, it did seem as though Newcastle had nine players on the pitch at Stamford Bridge, as they were comfortably beaten by Champions League-chasing Chelsea.
Without Callum Wilson, those in Black and White struggled up top and they will be looking over their shoulders during these coming weeks.
At this moment in time, seven points separate Newcastle and 18th-placed Fulham, but that can be reduced to four points if Scott Parker’s men win their game in hand against Burnley in midweek.
Receive exclusive football transfer news and updates twice a week to your mailbox
