Alan Shearer’s criticism of Newcastle United’s performance in the 2-0 defeat by Chelsea on Saturday has sparked a debate among Magpies fans.
Newcastle were comfortably beaten by Frank Lampard’s side, as an own goal from Federico Fernandez and a strike from Tammy Abraham saw the Blues ease to victory.
Steve Bruce’s team managed just one shot on target and came closest to scoring when Sean Longstaff struck the bar from distance.
The home side struggled without top scorer Callum Wilson as they slipped to their second successive 2-0 defeat.
It meant the Magpies have now won just one of their last five games, leaving them with 11 points from their opening nine Premier League matches.
Newcastle legend Shearer was on Match of the Day duty last night and he was critical of both Bruce and the players.
"The manager has to take responsibility because he sent the players out. They were very negative, there were nowhere near enough ideas going forward but also players have to take responsibility,” he said, as reported by the Chronicle .
"They have to braver in possession, work harder closing people down. Lascelles as a captain and a leader has to stop demanding protection from midfielders in front of him and Allan Saint-Maximin hasn't broken sweat since signing his new six year contract.
"Nowhere near enough (from Newcastle). Stop going forward and you're inviting pressure on yourselves. There were nowhere near enough bodies going forward and people prepared to commit to going forward.
"It's negative. Their first thought is going backwards and you're never going to score enough goals playing like this.”
As you might expect, Shearer’s heartfelt comments prompted a reaction from the Magpies fanbase, with most broadly in agreement of his analysis.
“Spot on Big Al. ASM has indeed not broken sweat since he signed his new contract,” Alan Little wrote on Facebook.
Simon James agreed, writing: “Thing he isn’t wrong about ASM. Maybe needs dropped. Lascelles doesn’t seem as vocal.”
Shearer’s words also struck a chord with Emma Louise Woodhouse, who added: “He’s right, every word he’s said about that performance today. Hopefully Bruce watched and listened to everything Alan said it might make him think again about tactics.”
“Can't really argue. Could add a few more names in there,” said Mick Rees.
Not all lay blamed the players for their performance, however.
“I agree with most of Alan's comments apart from his criticism of ASM,” said ComicAIs
“It seems that the first thought of any player (apart from ASM) is 'can I pass this back to anyone'.”
“We can't blame the players, it's obvious they are not happy playing to the tactics given to them by their coach,” Mohamed wrote. “They know the club has no other ambition than to just stay up. They can't keep on playing for such a team season after season.”
“All his previous teams played forgettable football,” Kevey 65 added . “He is just a journeyman manager. When he leaves clubs they seem to do better when he has gone.”
