Alan Shearer hasn’t held back in his assessment of Saturday’s 3-1 defeat at Fulham, describing our display as “rotten” and picking out two issues that he believes are having an impact – on and off the pitch.
Speaking on The Rest Is Football podcast, our former No.9 felt the result was a “reality check” after weeks of playing well below our best but finding a way to pick up points, feeling we’ve not really performed all season.
Shearer thought we looked “knackered” at Fulham and questions where the “high intensity, pressing and aggression” has gone, believing this was one of the key factors being our runs of form over the past two season but was nowhere to be seen on Saturday.
He also fears that some of the off-field issues are trickling onto the pitch, insisting that the lingering tension between Paul Mitchell and Eddie Howe “needs to be sorted” out as it’s having an impact on the club as a whole.
“They were rotten for the first half, they were dreadful,” Shearer said. “I know they’ve had the results, three wins and a draw before [Saturday’s] game, but it was a bit of a reality check. They hadn’t played well, really all season.
“If you remember last season and the season before, what Newcastle did really well was they overpowered teams. They pressed teams. They went after teams. We kept on saying about their energy and their fitness.
“I haven’t really seen that this season. They looked knackered against Fulham. They looked really tired and heavy legged. Too many players below par. That would be a worrying thing for me this season.
“We saw lots of it two seasons ago, and lots of it last season. In terms of this season up to now, the high intensity, pressing and aggression… I haven’t seen yet. That is a concern.”
On the issues off the field, Shearer added: “We’ve said it before about the sporting director and Eddie. Unless that gets sorted out somehow, it will affect performances on the pitch… it…
Source link : https://www.nufcblog.co.uk/2024/09/24/rotten-alan-shearer-names-two-major-issues-at-newcastle-after-fulham-reality-check/
Author : Olly Hawkins
Publish date : 2024-09-24 11:17:03
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