'It's crap' - Alan Shearer reveals his frustration after Newcastle United's defeat to Man City
Newcastle United lost 2-0 to Manchester City in the first-leg of their Carabao Cup semi-final.
Newcastle United have given themselves an uphill task heading into the Carabao Cup semi-final second leg away to Manchester City.
The Magpies lost the first-leg 2-0 at St James’ Park following second-half goals from Antoine Semenyo and Rayan Cherki.
Semenyo opened the scoring in the 53rd minute when Jeremy Doku’s low cross was flicked into the winger’s path by Bernardo Silva. Man City then added a second in stoppage time when Cherki got on the end of Rayan Ait-Nouri’s pass.
‘It’s crap’ - Alan Shearer not happy disallowed Man City goal v Newcastle United
Pep Guardiola’s side felt aggrieved not to be 2-0 up earlier when a second Semenyo goal was ruled out with Erling Haaland deemed offside in the build-up.
VAR officials spent over four minutes reviewing the incident, using superimposed lines to determine Haaland was a toe further forward than Malick Thiaw.
Referee Chris Kavanagh was then called to the pitch-side monitor and ruled that Haaland was impacting Thiaw’s ability to play the ball from an offside position.
And despite his Newcastle’s allegiances, the decision did not go down well with Alan Shearer.
Journalist Henry Winter wrote on X: “VAR has to be quicker. It can’t be as forensic & time-consuming as this. Four-minute delay, can’t be clear and obvious, both holding. VAR here to stay - age of technology - but VAR-free FA Cup had games flowing and fans loving it. 90-sec limit on decision-making please.”
And in response, Shearer said: “Agreed. I’d be going mad if that was against Newcastle. It’s crap and they have got it all wrong. 5cm excuse one week. No 5cm the next.”
Eddie Howe asked about Man City disallowed goal v Newcastle United
Asked for his view on the decision, Howe replied: “I've not seen it again so I can't give you an opinion.”
Providing his verdict on the defeat, Howe said: “I think we have [given ourselves an uphill task]. “I thought it was a tough defeat on us tonight because I thought the lads really did give everything today and I thought we had the chances to make that scoreline very different if we could have got that first goal. But there were chances, there were moments.
“I thought we defended pretty well for the majority of the game. Really disappointed to lose 2-0, I think 1-0. Obviously a very different feel about it. We needed to defend better in that last moment of the game.
“I think fatigue played a part, just generally for us today. I thought we looked a little bit fatigued. But that's understandable with the exertions and the efforts we gave on Saturday, it's such a quick turnaround.
“I think it's the worst team you can play to expose any fatigue because they keep the ball so well. That's where I have to compliment the lads because I thought they did give everything.