After Eddie Howe’s Newcastle suffe red a narrow 1-0 defeat to Borussia Dortmund at St James’ Park on Wednesday night, Magpies legend Alex Shearer issued his verdict that they “didn’t deserve anything” from the match.
The is the Magpies’ first defeat in the Champions League this season – thanks to Felix Nmecha’s goal just before half-time – despite having 60 percent possession and having had 12 shots but still couldn’t topple the Bundesliga side.
Newcastle are now third in the so-called ‘Group of Death’ with Paris Saint-Germain top of the table, Dortmund in second and AC Milan occupying last place. The Magpies are level on points with Dortmund and still have great opponities to progress further.
However it’s obvious they will need to step up a few gears if they still want to be in the reckoning beyond Christmas. Shearer, who is the club’s record scorer, wasn’t pleased with the result, conceding readily that Dortmund were the better side on this occasion.
“You can’t say it was a fluke, Dortmund might have been lucky once or twice in the last 10 minutes when it hit the bar but they defended so well,” Shearer told BBC Radio 5 Live. “They have played Newcastle really well and played the crowd really well.
“They were such a threat on the break. If Newcastle are honest then I think they’ll accept they didn’t deserve anything from the game.”
The Newcastle legend was peeved at Newcastle’s lack of threat in front of goal despite Howe’s team being the top scorers in the Premier League this season with 24 goals. He added: “With the form Newcastle have been in and the amount of goals they’ve been scoring, we were expecting that again this evening but it never really happened.
“Dortmund didn’t allow them to get a foot in the game. In the first half, they played high-risk football and managed to get ahead. In the second half, they were happy to sit back and they defended so well.”
Despite Shearer’s view, Howe believes Newcastle deserved something from Wednesday’s game. He told TNT Sports: “Tactically they were good and gave us problems in central areas. In the second half we were a lot better and unfortunately the ball would not go in.
“The intention was there but we’re up against elite teams. You make half a mistake and get punished. We grew into the game in the second half with the chances we created and the woodwork denied us. Now we have to do it the hard way in the group.”