JOHN Carver's career trajectory appears to be heading in the opposite direction to that of the upwardly mobile Garry Monk, but there are similarities. Like his Swansea counterpart, he was able to reflect on setting a club record in the wake of Newcastle's latest abject defeat.

While Monk guided the Welsh club to a Premier League best tally of 50 points with a victory that was rather more comfortable than the scoreline suggests, Carver also ensured his place in history, though not quite how he had envisaged when he accepted the poisoned chalice of succeeding Alan Pardew in January.

It's seven straight defeats and counting, the club's worst run in the top flight since the consecutive losses numbered 10 in 1977. Newcastle went down that season, and the odds on a repeat are shortening 38 years on.

They're five points above the final relegation place, occupied by the equally inept Sunderland, which should be enough of a gap to survive, but it is going to be close. As Alan Shearer reflected in his Match of the Day analysis, his old side need a point to be safe. But at present, where that is going to come from isn't very clear.

Another Newcastle old boy, Michael Owen, claimed his former employers wouldn't earn another point this season. He may well end up being correct, but even a side which looks as unmotivated as those currently sullying the black and white need no greater carrot than to knock the smug edges off a player who hardly pulled up trees during his time at St James' Park by proving him wrong.

With their final two trips this season being to Leicester and QPR, teams immediately below them in the fight for survival, a failure to add to their points tally could prove fatal to hopes of avoiding relegation.

Sights have been lowered somewhat since Carver took charge confidently targeting the kind of top ten finish Swansea will achieve with some comfort as the Welsh club close in on their highest ever Premier League placing.

Their manager Monk's post-match press conference wasn't so much an inquisition as one long love-in, in stark contrast to Carver's. The questions were sympathetically put - no need to kick a man when he's down - but he was, unsurprisingly, forced to fend-off searching questions over his future.

Two wins in 16 games would give any manager cause for concern over his future job prospects, but surely even a club with as turbulent a recent history as Newcastle would fight shy of taking the unusual and highly embarrassing step sacking a caretaker manager, even if on the pitch the team continues to be an April shower.

Carver remained defiant, insisting that he will continue in his role until told otherwise. His main rival for the job on a permanent basis, former Middlesbrough boss Steve McClaren, is taking Derby backwards in the Championship, but that is still no reason to prolong the 50-year-old's agony by appointing him full-time in the summer.

Fate has not dealt him a good hand in terms of injuries and a shocking lack of investment in the squad, but you are left with the feeling that even without such impediments, he might not have faired much better.

It may be his dream job, but he has looked out of his depth, and would be well advised to return to the coaching role to which he is better suited at the end of the season, with his short-comings largely excused by the chaotic events surrounding his underwhelming spell in charge.

"You learn a lot in defeat," Remy Cabella admitted. Insert your own punchline where appropriate. Newcastle's French midfielder added: "It's really hard to get out of this situation but believe me, we are trying. We're trying to find a solution as to what's gone wrong and we're working hard to put it right." Not hard enough, by the look of things.

Ayoze Perez put the hosts ahead early on after profiting from a mistake by Jordi Amat as the defender attempted to clear a cross from Emmanuel Riviere.

But Newcastle failed to heed repeated warnings of the visitors' prowess from set-pieces, and on-loan Benfica striker Nelson Oliveira emphatically headed Swansea level from Gylfi Sigurdsson's corner in first-half injury time.

Sigurdsson, the contest's outstanding performer, put his side ahead soon after the restart, afforded the freedom of the penalty area to pick his spot past Tim Krul. Jack Cork made it three from close range with 20 minutes left, before Siem de Jong marked his welcome return from an eight-month injury absence with a neat far post volley that put an unrealistic slant on the final score.

"We deserved something," insisted Riviere. The afternoon might have unfolded somewhat differently had the Frenchman's header not been well saved by Lukasz Fabianski before the visitors equalised. Riviere added: "We did everything. We ran, we fought."

That final observation is open to question, and the result, in addition to the six preceding defeats on this hellish run, suggests otherwise. Far from doing everything, Newcastle still have it all to do.