Jonjo Shelvey’s schoolboy set-pieces and slow tracking back did not go unnoticed by Alan Shearer last night, with him ‘annoyed’ and ‘angered’ at the midfielder during our 3-0 defeat to Arsenal.
Shelvey was one of eight changes brought into the side for our trip to the Emirates and was a complete passenger against a Gunners side that is lightyears away from the Arsenal of old.
Sloppy passing and a lack of energy made him look like a shell of the player we signed FIVE years ago now – with one of his amateurish corners resulting in Arsenal going up the other end to clinch the game at 2-0!
This left a certain Alan Shearer annoyed, with him having this to say to Premier League Productions:
“Well, this is the really annoying thing that makes me angry because you bring Lascelles up, you bring Clark up.
“You’ve got Carroll in there. You’ve got Joelinton in there. You’ve got others who can head a ball in there and you’re saying ‘come on’ to Jonjo Shelvey.
“Give me one bit of quality. Put the ball into the box, into the danger area, and he hits the front post.
“It also happened in the first half.”
Shearer then bemoaned his lack of desire following the awful corner, slating those who didn’t bust a gut to get back and stop an Arsenal counter attack:
“Then, to make matters worse, you’re thinking: ‘Come on! Where’s your effort? Where’s your determination to get back?’
“That sort of summed the game up for Newcastle with Arsenal scoring from their set-piece.
“Arsenal were much better, much brighter.
“They were more lively in that second half and Newcastle couldn’t live with that and couldn’t cope with that, and Arsenal deserved to win and probably deserved to score more goals.”
There is a real dog fight to see who can make a claim as our ‘least worst’ option in central midfield and hold down a regular berth in that position.
Shelvey did himself no favours last night and a player who I once considered our best now looks disinterested and someone who doesn’t even get in our best XI right now.
The January window is open. However, with lends and freebies our only avenues of transfer activity I don’t think of midfield woes are going to be rectified anytime soon.
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Shelley is not interested as can be seen when he goes to the opposition player with the ball and stops short no attempt to get the ball. Watched last night he did this several times also very very slow at getting back to cover. A total waste of time.
Brian Scollen(Quote)
Well he tried it his way and it’s still **** ,he buys players and then play’s them out of position,, he as Gayle on the bench and puts Andy Carol who is now a cart horse, his Bruce seeing something the rest of us are not. He as been sacked that many times they can’t all be wrong, get Eddie Howe Now.
Paul Estebanez(Quote)
Brandon Williams another bloody defender who cannot get close to Man Utd first team, but we will pay 65k for a young player who will probably play with the reserves, or are we going to play six at the back.
Paul Estebanez(Quote)
What day is Eddie Howe joining Newcastle United, soon before its too late to avoid relegation ???
Kenneth James Baglee(Quote)
First of all, I admit to being the secretary of the Jonjo Shelvey- Ruler of the Universe fanclub.
That said – he had an appalling game.
However – he was out for a while, and I suspect he was one of the many affected by COVID.
Personally I think the lineup at Arsenal was the much vaunted “Bruce’s best line-up” that people have been talking about, with the possible exception of Joelinton. Definitely Carroll and Wilson up front is our most capable strike force, and if Shelvey had shown a bit of his usual class they could have been dangerous.
I look forward to seeing the same lineup against Aston Villa.
As for Shelvey not tracking back – I think you will find you took that line out of context with Shearer referring to the team, not Shelvey. As I said – I’m a big Shelvey fan and while his set pieces were garbage, he did more tracking back and chasing than I’ve seen from him in a couple of seasons.
Helen Clarey(Quote)