Every word Jamie Carragher and Gary Neville said on Newcastle's plight last night - From Bruce, to Benitez, to a potential takeover

The Magpies travelled to north London on Monday night to face Arsenal looking to make amends for their dire display in the 1-0 defeat to Sheffield United last week.

Steve Bruce rang the changes for his side’s encounter with the Gunners, making eight changes and opting for a 4-4-2 formation.

The 60-year-old’s alterations still weren’t enough, however, and the hosts ran out 3-0 winners to leave the Toon Army winless in nine across all competitions.

Prior to the game, Carragher and Neville spent a lengthy period of time discussing everything from Steve Bruce’s tactical approach, to Rafa Benitez’s tenure at the club, to the damage that they believe Mike Ashley’s ownership has done on Tyneside.

Here’s every word the outspoken duo said:

Carragher: "It [The game against Sheffield United] was one of the worst performances I’ve seen from a team this season, and you’ve got to factor in who you’re up against – a team who hadn’t won in the Premier League this season.

“Newcastle supporters get a lot of criticism – what do they want?

"I think that most supporters in this country know that they're not going to win anything. Everyone knows that.

"We’re lucky, we support teams that have got a chance. Most teams just want a bit of hope, and at this moment, Newcastle supporters don’t like the owner, they don’t like the manager, they don’t like the team, so there’s nothing they can buy into at the minute.

"This is a relegation fight Newcastle are in. It's like they didn’t understand that when they went into this game [against Sheffield United]. They got absolutely battered by a team that hadn’t won the game this season.

“I think they’re a poor team.

"A club like Newcastle and a team like that would always be “in progress”. You’d always be looking to progress and improve things.

"I was a little worried when Steve Bruce said off the back of the game, ‘It’s my way now’. I think he probably regrets that he didn’t do that 18 months ago. I think as a manager you want to come in and do your thing.

"We all as pundits get questioned at times, and we’ll say there’s not much difference between Rafa and Steve Bruce. We’ve been on this show, we’ve been very critical of Rafa Benitez – against Man City and Liverpool they had twenty-odd percent possession. We’d say, ‘Can’t they attack more? This is Newcastle, they should be a bit more adventurous’. So we were critical of that.

“What I would say is that Steve Bruce has come in, and the position that they’re in is not too different, but the biggest problem I think for Newcastle fans at the moment is how poor the displays are.

“In almost every category you can look at, Newcastle are down [on where they were under Benitez]. We’re talking about a team that we criticised for having a lack of adventure being better than the team that we’re seeing right now.

"Forty-seven out of 55 games, they’ve had less possession than the opposition, but the big one was this one – under 30% [13 times in 55 games]. It’s not enough for Newcastle.

"Yes, at the start of the season, you’d expect Newcastle to possibly be in the position that they’re in, but when you actually see those numbers, that’s what the complaint is from Newcastle fans – how they’re actually performing.

"The problem I have watching Newcastle is, yes, they're not as good going forward, but they’re not actually better defensively, even though they attack less. That’s a big problem, and they’re in a huge relegation fight, I have no doubt.

"I actually think they’ve got a better centre-forward than what Rafa ever had. I think Callum Wilson is a huge upgrade on Dwight Gayle or Salomon Rondon in those positions.

"Those are worrying stats for Newcastle fans, and hence why there is a lot of frustration there.”

Neville: “I think the unhappiness towards this manager is embedded from history, rather than from who he is or the job that he’s doing.

"If I was a Newcastle fan I’d be unhappy now, I’d be unhappy under Rafa Benitez, I’d be unhappy under Steve McClaren, I’d be unhappy under the previous three managers before that. It’s been appalling for the past 10 or 12 years.

"I think choosing to look between Rafa Benitez and Steve Bruce, I don’t see any difference because the key thing for me in football is points.

"Rafa Benitez spent two seasons in the Premier League, he's a manager who is regarded as one of the best in the world over the last 10 or 15 years, he’s on £6 million a year at Newcastle – probably four times the amount of Steve Bruce. In his first season he got 44 points, in his second season he got 45 points, and last season Steve Bruce got 44 points – he’s matched him for points.

"At this stage in the season, in the last four seasons after this amount of games, Rafa Benitez had 15 points in 2017/18, he had 16 points in 2018/19, Steve Bruce last year had 22 points, and this year he’s got 19 points. Steve Bruce has actually got more points at this stage of the season than Rafa Benitez did in both his Premier League seasons.

"What Rafa Benitez has is a fantastic PR company – people like Jamie – and he had a wonderful rapport with the fans because he got them out of the Championship and he stuck with the club.

"He demonstrated loyalty, and he gave them hope, but I honestly, I thought the football was awful when I went up there.”

Carragher: “So do you think the football is awful now?”

Neville: “I do, my point is, this is something that’s culturally set at Newcastle United. It is not a Steve Bruce problem.

"I’ve not spoken to Steve Bruce in 12 years, even though I played with him. This is not a Steve Bruce defence piece.

"Newcastle have got a cultural problem where the football expectation up there is attacking, enthralling, thrilling football for the fans who are passionate about the club, and they’ve been served up dire tripe for about 10 years. It’s nothing to do with the last four years.

"The ownership and the executive at that club have not delivered that football to these fans for years and years.

"It’s nothing to do with Steve Bruce or Rafa Benitez. It’s been awful for years.

"I get demoralised now when I go to Newcastle. I should be inspired.”

Carragher: “The biggest problem, no doubt, is the ownership. You talk about how many managers have come in – that’ll never change.

"They’ve made Newcastle, and hopefully the supporters won’t be unhappy with this, into a Burnley or West Brom. They play to get 38 points a season, and I don’t think their [Burnley and West Brom] supporters are massively unhappy because they’re delighted to be in the Premier League.

"I love the fact that there are different styles in the Premier League and they do different things, but Newcastle fans and the club cannot ever be happy to be in the Premier League – they need to be a presence.

"I look at Newcastle like I look at West Ham or Everton. They should be challenging Europe, top eight, really.

"Yes, as I said before, they never fully believe, those clubs, that they’re going to win something, but they have hope. Right now, Everton have hope because of Ancelotti.

"Right now, you’re comparing Benitez and Bruce. I’ve just compared them myself. I said, we criticised Rafa Benitez on this show, but what Rafa Benitez gives Newcastle supporters is hope that if there is a takeover, they have a Champions League-winning manager who can take them forward if that did ever happen.

"Newcastle supporters aren’t expecting to be challenging in the Champions League places with Steve Bruce, Steve McClaren, Alan Pardew, or Rafa Benitez.

"They just want a bit of hope, and that’s what Rafa Benitez gave them.”

Neville: “The North East and Yorkshire, I mean Leeds have come back into it, but for many years over the last 10, that part of the world has been decimated in terms of Premier League football.

"The investment has not come into those clubs. It’s come into the north west clubs, it’s come into the London clubs, but it’s not gone into those clubs.

"We need, somehow, the ownership to change in those clubs in the north east so that they can start to get the football and the players that they deserve.

"They’ve got massive fanbases – great clubs, great grounds – and yet when we go up there, we’re served what we’re served. That’s whether it’s Rafa Benitez, by the way, one of the best managers over the last 15, 20 years, or whether it’s Steve McClaren or Steve Bruce.

"There’s a bit of managerial snobbery going on here because Rafa Benitez got away with a lot up there because he had a rapport with the fans. I thought the football was awful.

"That’s not a criticism of Rafa Benitez, because no manager has been able to change it since, or before.

"It was awful before and it was awful after.”