John Carver:

"This group of supporters back this team. People in the north understand the game – and I include Everton fans in that. They understand the situation, they understand where we are and what we are. I know for a fact the majority of fans think that way. 

"I’m not Harry Houdini, I can’t magic something up, but what I will do is give everything, and never give up. I’m in a situation where I’m working with the group of players I’ve got. 

"I can’t bring in anyone from outside. We are not losing people through silly injuries on the training ground – we’re losing them for silly red cards.

"I know what situation I’m in, we have a huge injury list, we can lose our skipper to a red card, and we can’t do anything about it. I will work with what I’ve got, and will not be negative, because by me not being negative, hopefully it will rub off on them, and they won’t throw in the towel.

"They haven’t done that. They have fought until the end. There was a lot of disappointment after the game and usually, we leave them for a couple of days, but I asked the guys if they had anything to say, and two or three did.

"It was sensible. I won’t name names, but they had something to say. There weren’t tea cups thrown, they were sensible, and examined it well.

"We have Arsenal next, and the way we are, we will be up for that. We had a two-way conversation, a controlled conversation, and we will review it all on Tuesday.

"I can’t be down. I have never thrown the towel anywhere, and I won’t do it here. I want them to be positive.

"I told one or two (players) not to say anything, and it was nice that others did come forward. I’m not a dictator, I’m very open-minded. I listen, and I take on board what is said.

Newcastle's stated aim of mid-table mediocrity was shown to be massively over-optimistic on Sunday by a relegation-threatened Everton side, who wiped the floor with John Carver's side of misfits at Goodison Park.

Just one win in twelve Premier League outings had seen the Toffees tumble towards the bottom three but it was the shambolic visitors who looked to be the team in trouble today.

Fabricio Coloccini's senseless red card summed up the non-performance as the captain showed his team mates a terrible example, launching a cowardly and dangerous challenge to effectively end this the game as a contest - although in truth we had been cast adrift with a full playing complement.

By that stage, United were already trailing to goals from James McCarthy and Romelu Lukaku that were gifted by blunders from Tim Krul and Yoan Gouffran respectively.

But a poor team performance by the silver-clad Magpies had allowed Everton to restore their fragile confidence, inviting the Merseysiders to run through the middle of the park with alarming ease.

And don't forget that Everton had been in Europa League action here the previous Thursday - a commitment that Newcastle deemed too taxing and sacrificed in order to maximise their efforts domestically. You couldn't tell.

United could have been in front in the third minute when a corner was cleared to Gabriel Obertan and his fierce shot was beaten out by Tim Howard. Mike Williamson fired the rebound goalward where it hit McCarthy on the line but referee Martin Atkinson waved away penalty claims, despite the ball clearly hitting the Everton player on the arm.

The same player then inevitably scored an opener that knocked the stuffing out of the visitors, who struggled badly with Emmanuel Riviere filling in for Papiss Cisse - United's top scorer beginning his seven game ban. A goal behind and we simply crumbled, not even capable of competing to the level that we attained in the defeat to Manchester United. 

Moussa Sissoko once again carried the side with Jack Colback also looking solid but the quality of crosses from Daryl Janmaat and Sammy Ameobi simply weren't good enough. Ayoze Perez was introduced at half-time and Ryan Taylor almost fired home a free-kick after he was brought down by Darron Gibson but his shot was over the wall and over the bar.

Yoan Gouffran's form continues to slide backwards and it was his mistake that the home side doubled their advantage from the spot, Everton looking all set to record their first home league victory in three months and only a fourth in fourteen attempts.

Any doubts that they wouldn't succeed were dispelled by Coloccini's two-footed lunge on Lennon that brought a straight red card with over half an hour still to play. On first viewing the dismissal looked harsh - and the hysterical reaction of home players led by Darron Gibson did nothing to ease the situation - but replays showed that the challenge was both malevolent and cowardly.

The loss of Coloccini saw Janmaat was partnered with Williamson and Colback dropped into left back with Ryan Taylor moving to the opposite flank in what looks like our new starting back four. The Colback withdrawal opens the door for Vurnon Anita to come back into midfield. Oh goody. 

For all his heart and guts, Taylor is no more than a stop gap and easily got past. Janmaat's subsequent admission that he'd never played there before meanwhile just adds to our suspicions that he'll soon sicken of this ambition-free zone and take himself off to a proper football club.  

Jonas Gutierrez replaced Riviere and took up a central midfield berth, after which we enjoyed our best (or least worse) spell of the game. 

Perez wasn't far away from latching on to a Gutierrez pass before Sissoko forced Howard into a one-handed save after a powerful surge towards goal from the left flank. At the other end though, Krul saved from Arouna Kone and Taylor cleared Ross Barkley's shot off the line.

Remy Cabella - on for Ameobi - almost finished off a fine move but Antolin Alcaraz got a last-ditch block in to deny the Frenchman. Everton's third arrived at the end of added on time when Barkley tucked his shot into the empty net, although a Janmaat dive may have blocked it.