By Danny Wright
Newcastle fans have slammed Vurnon Anita for his performance in the 4-1 win against Preston at St. James’ Park on Monday night.
The Magpies sealed their return to the Premier League with the three points and will fight it out with Brighton for the Championship title in their final two fixtures.
However it wasn’t all plain sailing for Rafa Benitez’s men and Anita suffered the brunt of the criticism from the supporters.
The defender simply failed to perform against Simon Grayson’s side and was constantly torn apart by the opposition wingers.
The 28-year-old was picked in the starting XI ahead of traditional right-backs DeAndre Yedlin and Jesus Gamez, despite being a natural defensive midfielder.
Newcastle fans took to Twitter to give their thoughts on Anita’s display and here is a selection of their tweets:
Anita needs to come off. Now.#NUFC
— Misty (@MistyPalace) April 24, 2017
https://twitter.com/FightingDoc14/status/856599412793061377
Anita..been garbage all nite,need Yedlin on soon #NUFC
— ✰ Rყαɳ ✰ (@RyanIcardi99) April 24, 2017
https://twitter.com/WayneNufc88/status/856599111201677312
Rafa needs to get Anita off here, lack of pace is telling when they counter #newpne #NUFC
— The Real Mikael (@therealmikael) April 24, 2017
https://twitter.com/Michael181168/status/856598952401137664
Anita's defending so narrowly man. It's like he thinks he's playing CM. #NUFC
— Josh (@jjam_37) April 24, 2017
Anita ball watching every time man! Garbage player #NUFC
— Lewis Muir (@LewisMuir) April 24, 2017
Get anita off. Having a weston#NUFC
— Alex Hird (@hirdy_alex) April 24, 2017
Anita has made 31 appearances for Newcastle this season across all competitions, supplying one assist.
He played six games in-a-row until he was dropped from the squad in the 3-1 loss to Ipswich last week but returned on Monday as Yedlin was axed to the bench.
The three-time Netherlands international moved to Newcastle in 2012 and has made a total of 155 appearances since.
Newcastle are guaranteed to finish in the top two places of the Championship now but know that they have to hope Brighton lose one of their remaining two fixtures in order for them to stand a chance of winning the title.
In other Newcastle news, the players have been rated for their performances against Preston.
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