Jermaine Jenas has claimed if Alan Shearer was playing with Allan Saint-Maximin at Newcastle United today, then he would have him in a ‘headlock at halftime’.
The former Newcastle midfielder shared how Saint-Maximin is ‘causing some problems’ out on the wings, but he perhaps doesn’t put the ball into the box quick enough.
Saint-Maximin is a free-spirit out on that pitch and someone, if you asked him, doesn’t know what he is going to do when he is on the ball.
That’s not a criticism of the player, but praise for having this explosive unpredictable nature to his game that sees opposition defenders dancing to his tune.
Playing in a more attack-minded team now that Eddie Howe is in the dugout and not Steve Bruce, has started to bring a bit more final product out of the player.
But, after sharing a dressing room at Newcastle with the club’s greatest-ever player, Jenas shared how Shearer would react to Saint-Maximin and compared him to another Frenchman in Laurent Robert, as he told MOTDx.
“Saint-Maximin, now this guy, he’s causing some problems,” said Jenas. “When I played with Shearer, then Saint-Maximin would have been in a headlock at half-time.
“Every single week, he would have been in a headlock. Laurent Robert was close. He was a baller and he used to do a lot of chopping.
“Honestly, it was like ‘if you don’t cross this ball into this box in the next two minutes, then you are getting it’.”
BETTER PLAYERS NOW AROUND SAINT-MAXIMIN
Previously, not only was Newcastle lacking attacking quality, but someone like Saint-Maximin was perhaps one of the team’s most important players.
Well, the January arrivals of Kieran Trippier, as well as Bruno Guimaraes, have pushed Saint-Maximin down the pecking order in terms of importance.
That benefits no one but the team because it brings that extra 10% out of the trickster and improves the depth in quality Howe can now pick from.
But, most importantly, the France World Cup hopeful is also getting better coaching, which is adding more consistency to his game, as well as a better end product.
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