Newcastle United legend Alan Shearer has delivered a withering assessment of his old team’s performance against West Ham United on Saturday.
The Magpies were below par from start to finish as Manuel Pellegrini’s side enjoyed a 3-0 victory at St James’ Park, courtesy of a brace from Javier Hernandez and a late strike from Felipe Anderson.
And Shearer was not impressed: “I’m pleased I’m not on Match of the Day tonight having to analyse that toothless performance from Newcastle,” he said on his personal Twitter account.
I’m pleased I’m not on @BBCMOTD tonight having to analyse that toothless performance from @NUFC. @WestHamUtd much the better team and deserved to win.
— Alan Shearer (@alanshearer) December 1, 2018
“West Ham much the better team and deserved to win,” he finished.
OPINION
Shearer is right to be unimpressed after that showing from the Magpies. Newcastle simply weren’t at the races and that was evident from very early on against West Ham. The Hammers weren’t out of this world either, but they took their chances and did just a little bit more than the hosts. It was an error-strewn game from both sides in all honesty, but the difference was that Pellegrini’s side capitalised on Newcastle’s mistakes and the Magpies didn’t. Toothless is the right word and Shearer did well to use it because Rafael Benitez’s men never looked like scoring at St James’ Park. The likes of Salomon Rondon and Ayoze Perez both missed key chances and you simply can’t do that at this level. Newcastle came into this game in good form but you wouldn’t have known it from their performance on Saturday. Their three game winning streak was emphatically snapped by the Hammers and Shearer is right to be disappointed.
