FABRICIO COLOCCINI will miss next month’s Wear-Tyne derby following his dismissal in Newcastle United’s 3-0 defeat to Everton, with manager John Carver admitting there is no ‘magic solution’ to his side’s mounting defensive crisis.

Coloccini was dismissed for a two-footed lunge on Everton midfielder Aaron Lennon as the Magpies crashed to a deserved reverse at Goodison Park, and will be forced to sit out the trip to the Stadium of Light as well as the forthcoming matches against Arsenal and Liverpool.

The Newcastle skipper has missed four of the last six derbies, with his latest absence likely to prove extremely costly given the lack of central-defensive options within the United squad.

With Steven Taylor and Paul Dummett injured, and Mapou Yanga-Mbiwa, Davide Santon and Remie Streete all having left the squad in January without having been replaced, full-back Daryl Janmaat is Mike Williamson’s likeliest central-defensive partner for the trip to Wearside.

The duo finished yesterday’s game together as goals from James McCarthy, Romelu Lukaku and Ross Barkley condemned Newcastle to their eighth away defeat of the campaign, and while Newcastle’s recruitment team could yet scour the free agent market for a short-term signing, Carver has warned there is unlikely to be an external solution to the problem.

“I’m not Harry Houdini,” said the interim head coach, who has now overseen five defeats and three draws in his ten games since replacing Alan Pardew. “I cannot magic something up, but I will give the situation everything and work with what I’ve got.

“I’m in a situation where I’m working with the group of players I have. I can’t wave a magic wand and bring anybody in from the outside.

“I’m not losing people through silly training-ground injuries, I’m losing them through silly red and yellow cards. I’ve got a huge, huge injury list and I’m working with what I’ve got.

“Losing Coloccini will take the numbers down even more. I know the situation I’m in and I can’t do anything about it, I just get on with it and continue to work with it until I’m told otherwise.”

Newcastle have the option of appealing against Coloccini’s dismissal, although it is hard to see the Football Association overturning referee Martin Atkinson’s decision to brandish a straight red card.

There was not a lot of force to Coloccini’s challenge on Lennon, but he led with both feet and was not in control of his forward momentum.

Initially, Carver thought the tackle merited a red card, but on further reflection, the former assistant has hinted at possible grounds for an appeal.

“I’ve looked at it four or five times from different angles in the dressing room and it’s not conclusive,” he said. “That might just be the footage we have.

“When it actually happened, from the reaction of the Everton players I thought, ‘That must have been a red card’. That was my initial reaction. But when I came in at full-time and had a look at it on a laptop, which is not the biggest screen, it was very difficult to actually decide.

“I'll look at it again and if it’s worthy of a sending-off I’ll accept it. If it’s not, we’ll appeal. In all honesty, I tried to look at it from a number of different angles, and I’m still not convinced.”

Regardless of whether it was merited or not, Coloccini’s dismissal did little to change the course of a game that had already slipped through Newcastle’s grasp by the time they were reduced to ten men.

Despite Everton kicking off just three points clear of the relegation zone, and having played a Europa League game against Dynamo Kiev on Thursday night, the hosts were always too strong for a Newcastle side that already looks like limping through to the end of the season.

“I thought we started the game well and put them under a little bit of pressure,” said Carver. “Their goalkeeper made a great save (from Gabriel Obertan) and there was a little bit of a shout for a penalty as well.

“But after that, I must say, 11 against 11 we were second best. We conceded two poor goals. The first goal, you can't let runners run off you from midfield and Tim (Krul) possibly could have done a little bit better.

“What was encouraging was when we went 2-0 down with ten men, we had our best opportunities. It wasn’t a group of people who had given in. We still wanted to get back into the game.”