I want to make a couple of things clear. Firstly, I loved Shearer as a player. He was undoubtedly a world-class striker and deserves his tag as a local hero. I also agree with everything he has said on MOTD, but here’s the rub. Could he have said more?
He quite aptly calls out the players and continues to despair at Ashley’s ownership, but the one man that does seem to escape his criticism is the Manager.
Is this because he’s a good mate or is it because of Shearer’s own failure in his shot at management? Not for me to say, but I do think there’s more to this than good players playing badly and yes, I said good players because I do think we have some….they’re just being coached badly.
They are simply not playing in a system that suits them, are operating well below what they’re capable of and aren’t putting in a shift to turn things around. Now for me they should be doing the latter at the very least as they are professionals. They should be busting a gut for the Club that pays their wages and the Manager that continues to pick them but, sorry, they don’t appear to be for me. Leeds ran more for a fourth and fifth on Wednesday than we did to get back into the game and it was barely noticeable that we had the extra man against Fulham!
Unfortunately, I can only put all of the above down to one man and that’s Bruce, yet not questions aimed at the manager on Match of the Day from Shearer.
Has he lost the dressing room? I have no idea but the players don’t look or seem happy and Saturday was another dreadful example of that. They look like a team going nowhere and not a team that is a work in progress. If they are then they must be like the Metro Bridge at South Gosforth. You know, the one that ran way, way over in its planning estimation and took a huge additional amount of money outside the original budget to get it finished. You get what I’m saying? He’s been given the tools yet it feels like we need all the help we can get in January.
Don’t get me wrong, Shearer is left in an awkward position and is not going to completely call out his mate on Match of the Day, but pointing to nothing but the players for our poor performances only builds this false narrative that Bruce is doing his best with an awful squad. When we have proven striker, several £20m+ wingers and a defence that looked rock solid before he arrived, I’m not having that individuals in our team are the big issue. There’s barely a player at NUFC whose improved under Bruce and he’s also making very dangerous PL players look incredibly average.
Fulham are a newly promoted side and one of the favourites to go down. We had a chance to kill them off and make ourselves virtually safe but we looked absolutely terrified of them from first whistle to last and once again horrendously out played conceding massive amounts of possession to them.
If they had been any good, they’d have thumped us easily. They aren’t good, they really aren’t and if they don’t go down, I’ll be surprised. They simply don’t score enough goals or have enough quality in their side to do anything other than struggle.
So, and I could rant all day about this, we are and continue to be dreadful and look as lost as ASM and Lascelles seem to be.
We need sorting out and Bruce is not the man to do it and even Shearer should acknowledge that and call for his head. We’ll be right behind him if he does!
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Well said Jeff, spot on analysis. It was an Ashley master stroke to silence his most high profile critic and split the fanbase even further by bring in Doubtfire. Ashley must have a chuckle to himself every time he sees Shearer on tv.
Jarra Mick(Quote)
Well said mate Shearer should have the Balls and say it how it is, to many other pundits saying he’s doing a good job they all stick together
Graeme Drinkeld(Quote)