Alan Shearer expressed how the majority of Newcastle United supporters would have been feeling about the controversial free kick awarded to Liverpool, which led to their winning goal in a 3-2 win at Newcastle on Saturday.
Liverpool midfielder Fabinho went over by the touchline near the corner, after very minimal contact as Newcastle’s Matt Ritchie closed him down, with referee Andre Marriner, with help from his assistant, awarding Liverpool a free kick, which was whipped in dangerously by Xherdan Shaqiri and headed home by Divock Origi for the late winner.
Reacting to the award of the free kick on his personal Twitter account, Shearer angrily said: “Not sure!!!!!??”
Shearer responded to a tweet from Arlo White, who is the lead football commentator for NBC Sport in the US, which ironically stated that he was “not sure it was a foul on Fabinho.”
The defeat was harsh on Newcastle who had earlier twice come from behind, with goals from Christian Atsu and Salomon Rondon placing real pressure on Liverpool, who knew they simply had to win to remain hope of winning the Premier title.
OPINION
Alan Shearer perfectly sums up the emotions of most Newcastle United supporters with his Tweet, with the free kick awarded to Fabinho very soft to say the least. Although there is of course an argument that Newcastle should have defended the resulting free kick from Shaqiri better than they did, it still does not take away the frustrations for Newcastle players and supporters after they pushed Liverpool all the way at St James’ Park. Despite the frustrations over Liverpool’s winning goal, Newcastle can take heart from their performance against one of the two outstanding sides in the country. Rafa Benitez’s side had already beaten Manchester City at home this season and now showed they could also compete with Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool. That will give real confidence to Newcastle’s players heading into next season and they will be hoping to put on more performances like the one against Liverpool on a consistent basis in order to push further up the league next term.
