QUESTION: HOW MANY GOALS would Wayne Rooney have prevented? Question: if Newcastle United truly care about challenging Manchester United (for anything), would £23.5 million not be better spent on two decent centre halves? Question: Bobo who? Question: has Alan Shearer stepped out of the team but closer to the manager’s job? Question: just what the hell is going on at St James’ Park? Expect the answers, if they come, to be in the form of riddles, because for all Freddy Shepherd’s image as a bluff Geordie, little at his club is straightforward. On Saturday morning, when Sir Bobby Robson’s decision to drop Shearer, the Newcastle captain and totem, spread across the city, it felt as though a climactic moment approached like a juggernaut. By the evening, it was a lonely example of sound logic.
Opinion: Shearer has not been in supreme form this season. Supposition: this may be connected with the striker believing he lacks Robson’s confidence. Fact: Shearer is 34 and in Patrick Kluivert, Craig Bellamy and Shola Ameobi, Robson possesses three alternative, high-quality forwards. Opinion: for a man of suspect fitness, Kluivert played well at Villa Park. Fact: Shearer is an icon, Robson has a dilemma.
There was no sense yesterday that plonking Shearer on the substitutes’ bench would do for Robson as it did for Ruud Gullit five years ago. Not in the immediate sense, anyway. Shepherd, who missed his team’s riotous 4-2 defeat at Villa Park while beavering away on prospective transfers, had retreated to the golf course, seeking a release from the frustration. His finger has yet to touch the trigger.
Yet there is grave disappointment in the Newcastle boardroom, disappointment that stems from failure to qualify for the Champions League and the defeat to Marseilles in the semi-final of last season’s Uefa Cup. Yet that disappointment was expressed bizarrely; by Shepherd admitting that Robson’s one-year contract would not be renewed. At a stroke, the manager’s authority was undermined.
Newcastle’s next six matches are Blackburn Rovers (home), Bnei Sachnin (home), Southampton (away), West Bromwich Albion (home), Bnei Sachnin (away) and Birmingham City (away). It is a stretch of games which will determine Robson’s future.
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Fact: Newcastle sold Jonathan Woodgate to Real Madrid. Question: why? Fact: Shepherd wishes to bring Rooney to Tyneside. Question: why? Fact: Villa’s first three goals stemmed from crosses. A corner from Nolberto Solano was headed in by Olof Mellberg. Jlloyd Samuel delivered, Gareth Barry shot, Carlton Cole bundled in the rebound. Solano and Barry combined proficiently. Question: where do Newcastle’s frailties lie? An abortive attempt was made to buy Robert Huth, of Chelsea, on Friday, since when Newcastle have switched their attentions to Jean-Alain Boumsong, of Rangers, and Bobo Balde, of Celtic. Neither would have supporters gasping. Publicly, Shearer accepted Robson’s decision like a man. “At any club with several strikers there is bound to be rotation — I understand that,” he said and, in his 77 minutes, Kluivert performed adequately. His equaliser, turning, shooting and stumbling, was brilliant. When Andy O’Brien glanced Bellamy’s cross beyond Thomas Sorensen to secure a 2-1 lead, Robson looked like a genius. By the end, he looked like a 71-year-old.
Opinion: Newcastle are enduring a run of poor fortune. Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink thumped Middlesbrough a draw in the opening game of the season, Shay Given made an uncharacteristic error against Norwich City and here Sorensen deliberately handled the ball outside the area and should have been dismissed. For Barry’s goal, two of Robson’s players were injured, while Juan Pablo Ángel’s shot was deflected hideously.
“I don’t know if it’s a happy camp at the moment,” Solano, their former player, who hit the crossbar, said. “I know some are happy and some are not, but a team has to be together.”
Villa were mediocre, but they were also tall and durable — a combination too much for their opponents. “I’m trying not to panic and I can’t panic,” Robson said. “We’ll turn this ship around.” Yet there are too many questions, too few facts, not enough answers and too many riddles. Newcastle’s trials are not sustainable.