Rafa Benitez is Newcastle's best appointment since Sir Bobby Robson, says John Carver

Rafa Benitez is the best managerial appointment at Newcastle United since Sir Bobby Robson, says former boss John Carver.

The former defender took over from the departing Alan Pardew in January 2015 and managed to keep the club in the Premier League with a 2-0 win against West Ham on the final day of last season. 

Newcastle have had two further head coaches since he left the club, but Carver believes that the current boss Rafa Benitez is the man to take the club forward.

"It's a brilliant appointment, and one of the best we've had in all honesty since Bobby Robson," he told Goals on Sunday.

"It's a great coup for Lee Charnley and he's been under massive amounts of pressure, so he had to go and get somebody with the CV that Rafa has.

"I'll be interested to see how he deals with this different type of pressure because as we all know in the North East, it's a huge pressure, but I'm sure he can deal with it. When you've gone to a club like Real Madrid, you can deal with anything. 

"If we do stay up, I'm sure Rafa's going to stay and build up something within the club. Last week, he was down at the training ground talking to the young players and staff down there.

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"It's why we need to stay in the Premier League because we need Rafa to take this club onto another level."

Newcastle currently sit 19th in the table, one point behind Tyne-Wear rivals Sunderland and three away from the safety of 17th place, occupied by Norwich. 

Having pulled off his own great escape last season, Carver is hopeful that Benitez can do the same and has outlined the must-win games from the remaining fixtures.

"I've still got hope that we can get out of this. I think from the last eight games, we have four winnable matches," he added.

"I think the game against Norwich is bigger than the derby game last week and we have to go there thinking we can win it. We've got Swansea at home, Aston Villa away and Crystal Palace at home so they are four games that Rafa will certainly target as games that we can win.

"I think the points total this year is going to be really low - about 35/36 points. We can target those four games and get four wins - I think we have only got six all season so it's going to be tough.

"My outlook on it is that the more people that are positive about it around the place - and there is that feeling because Rafa has come into the club - then it generates this good vibe around the place and I'm keeping everything crossed. This club has to stay in the Premier League."