Alan Shearer was left baffled by Newcastle United’s defending during their 3-2 defeat to Tottenham on Sunday, as he told Premier League Productions (17/10/21 at 5:50 pm).
The Newcastle legend claimed that the defending from the home team, for the opening two goals, was ‘so bad, it’sincredible’, as he questioned why Jamaal Lascelles didn’t close down Tanguy Ndombele for the opener.
He then questioned why Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg was provided with so much space to feed Harry Kane for the second goal and why the England captain’s run wasn’t read by the backline.
It was a vibrant and uplifting atmosphere at St James’ Park because of the new ownership that had replaced the unpopular Mike Ashley.
And that was met with Callum Wilson heading Newcastle into the lead inside two minutes.
But Steve Bruce’s side didn’t have much to cheer about after that because Ndombele, Kane and then Heung-Min Son punished them before they could get to the break.
Shearer was perplexed by what he was seeing from his side and their actions towards three Spurs players.
“He (Lascelles) has got to get out,” said Shearer. “He has to engage with him (Ndombele). One of the midfielders has to engage with Hojbjerg (before his assist to Kane). You have to go and close him down.
“Then, when you have that much time, to take and touch then you can’t hold a high line. You have got to drop off.
“As soon as they see that Hojbjerg has got ten yards of space, and no-one is going to close him down, then that back four has to back four. Else, you are going to get done with a quality run and finish.
“The defending from Newcastle, for the first two goals, is so bad that it’s incredible.”
Eric Dier didn’t score an own goal minutes from time, which lifted a St James’ Park crowd that were on their knees because of Spurs’ comeback and Jonjo Shelvey’s red card.
He came on as a substitute, but with two reckless yellow cards in next to no time, he found himself going for an early bath.
This may well be Bruce’s final game in charge, especially given all the talk about his future leading into the game.
New owners or not, many managers would be questioned if their team would be sitting in the relegation zone with no wins from eight.
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