Alan Shearer has hit the nail on the head in his assessment of last night’s disappointing 1-0 defeat to Everton at Goodison Park.
The NUFC legend was on commentary duties for Amazon Prime and shared his thoughts after the game, saying he felt like he was watching a team that were never going to score; even with a man advantage.
He believes we showed a real lack of quality in the final third, moved the ball too slowly and didn’t make the pitch big enough after Everton went down to 10.
Here’s what he had to say after the game:
“They didn’t do enough in the second-half, they had one effort through Joe Willock when Everton went down to 10 men and [Asmir] Begovic saved it.
“Other than that, I didn’t think they were ever going to score.
“They were just lacking in quality, they didn’t make the pitch big enough.
“They didn’t move the ball quick enough when Everton went down to 10 men.
“Very much like Everton, they were lacking in quality in key areas.”
Shearer then shared his views on Allan’s controversial red card, feeling it was an “absolute howler” and a poor reaction to decisions that weren’t given last weekend:
“The sending off, I didn’t agree with but it probably worked for them because it galvanised them. They got behind the ball and didn’t shirk any tackles.
“They stuck together, didn’t cave in and got such an important win for them.”
“I think it is a reaction from last weekend where they took a little bit of criticism in the Newcastle-Chelsea game. There could have been a red card when [Kai] Havertz went into the challenge with his elbow, and I think that’s potentially a reaction from what they’ve been criticised for at the weekend.
“I didn’t think it was a red card, I think Craig Pawson is 10 yards behind, he has such a clear view of it. I wanted him to go over to the monitor and go you know what, I got my decision right.
“It was a strong yellow card but that is an absolute howler for the VAR to say you’ve made such a terrible error, you’ve got to overturn that. I thought it was very harsh.”
