Under-pressure coach bans TV in desperate bid to avoid Premier League relegation

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Newcastle United coach John Carver has banned his squad from watching television, using the interview and reading newspaper as he tries to beat the drop.

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With only one game to play in the Premier League, the Magpies remain in 17th place, perilously close to the bottom three.

The north-east giants are only two points ahead of Hull City having lost 2-1 to already-relegated Queens Park Rangers on Saturday.

While Newcastle will remain confident of avoiding the drop—due to the fact the Tigers face a taxing final-fixture against Manchester United—they could still be relegated should Hull beat the Red Devils and they fail to beat West Ham United at St James’ Park.

According to the Daily Mail, under-pressure Carver has banned his players from engaging with media in order not to read the press’s comments on their plight.

“I’ll tell the players to keep away from the TV and going online, to keep them focused on preparation,” Carver began.

“If you take your eye off the ball you get punished, and we’ve got to keep our focus sharp.

“It’s still in our hands, and if you want it enough then you can do something about it.

“We’ve got a week to get our heads around this situation.”

Newcastle started well against QPR, as Emmanuel Riviere opened the scoring to give the visitors the lead.

However, they capitulated and fell behind after goals from Matt Phillips and Leroy Fer.

Newcastle were last relegated in 2009 when they finished 18th in the top flight.

Only Fabricio Coloccini, Ryan Taylor, Steven Taylor, Tim Krul and Jonas Gutierrez remain of the side that dropped to the Championship six years ago.

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