Newcastle United boss Alan Pardew has hit out at Twitter users attacking Danny Simpson after last week's defeat at Arsenal.

Simpson was forced to delete his Twitter account after "keyboard warriors" hurled aggro his way and blamed him for being out of position when Thomas Vermaelen swept home a last-minute winner.

Pardew told the Evening Chronicle: "They got it completely wrong - the guy was injured.

"This is somebody who has cleared more off the goalline than anybody else in the Premier League.

"That suggests to me that he's in the right place at the right time. If you're injured what can you do?

"To actually get some criticism for it was disgraceful really."