Alan Shearer hailed Newcastle’s back five for their perfect display in United’s memorable injury time defeat of Chelsea.
Isaac Hayden’s header in the 93rd minute earned Newcastle three points on a night when they spent most of the game defending.
But Shearer felt the performances of Ciaran Clark and Federico Fernandez – and indeed the whole of the back five – meant that Newcastle “deserved” their victory, even if it was a smash and grab win.
Speaking on Match of the Day he said: “They were absolutely superb to a man. They came under so much pressure from Chelsea but they stood firm.
“They are tight, they’re compact, if they don’t win the first ball they often win the second. Fernandez, who was absolutely superb - his positioning all game was excellent, as were his leadership qualities across that back five.
“Ciaran Clark was man of the match, he didn’t put a foot wrong. He was almost perfection. And for all Chelsea’s possession – they had 70% – they didn’t work the goalkeeper enough.
“I don’t care who you are and how many men you commit forward but if you’re going to have those numbers defending it’s going to be difficult to get through. They didn’t create many chances because of the work-rate and effort and the organisation of Newcastle.
“And when you stay in the game, as they did, and you’ve got someone who can whip a ball in with that quality you’ve got a chance. Yes it was smash and grab but their work-rate and effort and their endeavour... in terms of that, they deserved it.”
MOTD also showed the footage of Shearer celebrating the win , and then performing a ‘Dad dance’ celebration in the aftermath of Hayden’s header.
Laughing he responded: “It was awful! I apologise.”
