It's now or never for Newcastle United
May 11 2009 by Mark Douglas, The Journal
ALAN Shearer has urged his Newcastle United side to seize the initiative handed to them by Hull’s weekend failure as he prepares to send a team out to attack Middlesbrough in a game he ranks bigger than any he has been involved in.
Hull’s 2-0 home defeat against Stoke on Saturday ramped up the stakes ahead of tonight’s Tyne-Tees derby, offering an unlikely escape route from the relegation places if either team wins. However, taking it will be easier said than done.
United have won just four games at St James’s Park all season and Shearer is winless in five as manager.
Indeed United have won just once in 2009 – against bottom of the league West Brom, who themselves moved to the same points total as Newcastle thanks to their weekend win.
The facts don’t make for pleasant reading but Shearer has urged his team to forget their previous problems and be positive in front of a near sell-out crowd. He will send out a side containing Michael Owen, Obafemi Martins and Mark Viduka for a match that he rates as more important than any of the games he competed in for club or country.
With experience of World Cups and European Championships for England that is quite a boast – and a clear indication of the importance Shearer is attaching to the match.
“This is as important and as big as it will be without a shadow of a doubt,” he said. “I’d go so far as to say it’s the biggest of my career. This is the biggest game without a doubt. It is bigger than Euro ‘96.” Shearer and assistant boss Iain Dowie have been working on formation and personnel since Wednesday, and the United boss has given a clear indication that he is ready to reprise the three-pronged attack that failed to spark victory against Portsmouth a fortnight ago.
