Alan Shearer urges Newcastle United to correct one 'illegal' flaw ASAP - 'Lack of desire'
Alan Shearer has highlighted one area in need of drastic improvement for Newcastle United following their Boxing Day defeat to Man Utd.
Newcastle United must start gambling in the box to make the most of their high volume of crosses if they’re to improve their attacking record.
That’s according to Alan Shearer, who has been dissecting their blunt performance as they fell to a 1-0 defeat against Manchester United at Old Trafford on Boxing Day. Patrick Dorgu scored the only goal of the match in the 24th minute as the Magpies made it three without a win in the Premier League. However, it was not for a want of trying from Eddie Howe’s men, who attempted a whopping 46 crosses on the night, but found their mark with just seven of them at a 15% success rate - compared to 38% from Man Utd’s paltry eight crosses.
Alan Shearer blasts ‘illegal’ Newcastle attack
Newcastle have attempted a league-high 437 crosses so far this season, which is at least 19 more than any other Premier League side. However, they’re only third for successful crosses (90), with their massive tally of 347 unsuccessful crosses also a league-high. Nowhere was that issue more apparent than at Old Trafford, and Shearer has urged the Newcastle forwards to start making better runs into the box soon - with the Magpies 13th in the Premier League for goals scored and 14th in the actual table as we near the halfway point.
“Newcastle, 46 crosses in that one game, and there was probably only three or four good ones,” Shearer said on The Rest is Football. “Murphy put one in in the first half, it was illegal that nobody was on the end of it, Gordon and Woltemade standing still. And that has to change. From a Newcastle point of view, you can’t be putting that many balls into the box and nobody is getting onto the end of them.
“How can you have 46 crosses in a game and not create really, really good opportunities, and have someone get into the box?
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“That tells you there has to be a lack of desire, or a lack of knowledge, or a lack of ability to want to get in there. That’s the frustrating thing from a Newcastle point of view, because it wasn’t just against Man Utd. They put loads in against Chelsea, against Tottenham. And that’s been a common theme, where balls have been going in, and there’s not been enough players prepared to get on the end it.
“But I thought from a Newcastle point of view, good until the final third, and then terrible in the final third. Man Utd deserved the win, they defended really, really well.”
Could Yoane Wissa prompt Newcastle change of shape?
Yoane Wissa came on for the final 22 minutes of the match and seemed to inject a bit of life into the Newcastle attack, offering a more dynamic option than Nick Woltemade. Shearer is now wondering whether or not Howe will be tempted to start Wissa and drop Woltemade into an attacking midfield role against Burnley on Tuesday as he seeks to get more from what is an eye-wateringly expensive forward line.
“He made one great run, when Barnes chose to pull it back for Anthony Gordon instead of pushing it across the six-yard box, which would have given him a tap-in,” Shearer said of Wissa.
On a possible change of shape against Burnley, he added: “But I don’t know whether Eddie will change the system or not when they go to Burnley. Whether he’ll end up playing Wissa as the No.9 and Woltemade as more of a sitting player, with just two midfielders instead of three, which has always been his system. We’ll have to wait and see for that. But Newcastle have to do something different.”
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