Alan Shearer is not one to mince his words when it comes to talking about Newcastle United, and once again he's come up with the goods when discussing the win over Tottenham Hotspur.
The Magpies put four past Spurs on Saturday despite having just 28% possession, showing it's not the size of your stats it's what you do with them.
Eddie Howe had to rejig his formation and indeed the way his side play to face up against Champions League-chasing Spurs due to having another lengthy injury list, and the tweaks he made worked wonders.
Alan Shearer certainly felt that Howe got it right on Saturday as he got things off to an enthusiastic start when talking about the game on The Rest Is Football Podcast.
The talk of Newcastle's game starts at the 26-minute mark of the Podcast, much to the annoyance of Shearer who couldn't believe how long they'd waited. Still, at least they actually talked about Newcastle unlike Match of the Day who decided to focus on how crap Spurs were rather than how good Newcastle were. Laughable coverage.
"Talk about a tactical masterclasses. Eddie schooled Ange [Postecoglu]. No doubt about it.
"He played three at the back, changed the system went man for man, pressed them high and Spurs couldn't handle it."
Shearer then went on to aim a couple of jabs towards Micky van de Ven which is understandable, highlighting the craziness of trying to play offside in his own half.
He then went on to direct more praise towards Howe when being asked about the pressure he was supposedly under when things weren't going so well.
“He’s doing a brilliant job.
“If you look at the injury list that Newcastle had before the game, it is arguable that you could have put a better team out than maybe the starting line-up that was put out against Tottenham. That just tells you how good of a job he’s doing.
“The last couple of results have been superb and they have a decent run-in, if they can get into a Europa League spot which they have every chance of doing now, then it would still be an incredible season because of everything that has been thrown at them.”
PL | GD | PTS | ||
---|---|---|---|---|
1 |
Liverpool
|
7 | 11 | 18 |
2 |
Manchester City
|
7 | 9 | 17 |
3 |
Arsenal
|
7 | 9 | 17 |
4 |
Chelsea
|
7 | 8 | 14 |
5 |
Aston Villa
|
7 | 3 | 14 |
6 |
Brighton
|
7 | 3 | 12 |
7 |
Newcastle United
|
7 | 1 | 12 |
8 |
Fulham
|
7 | 2 | 11 |
9 |
Tottenham Hotspur
|
7 | 6 | 10 |
10 |
Nottingham Forest
|
7 | 1 | 10 |
11 |
Brentford
|
7 | 0 | 10 |
12 |
West Ham United
|
7 | -1 | 8 |
13 |
Bournemouth
|
7 | -2 | 8 |
14 |
Manchester United
|
7 | -3 | 8 |
15 |
Leicester
|
7 | -3 | 6 |
16 |
Everton
|
7 | -8 | 5 |
17 |
Ipswich
|
7 | -8 | 4 |
18 |
Crystal Palace
|
7 | -5 | 3 |
19 |
Southampton
|
7 | -11 | 1 |
20 |
Wolves
|
7 | -12 | 1 |