Garth Crooks has labelled Newcastle midfielder Jonjo Shelvey a “thug” following his red card in a 2-0 defeat against Tottenham.
The 25-year-old was shown a straight red card for a deliberate stamp on Alli’s ankle in an off-the-ball incident.
Shelvey captained the Magpies with club captain Jamaal Lascelles starting on the bench, but was dismissed in the 48th minute for his reckless stamps.
His sending off ultimately cost his side at St James’ Park as they were goalless at the time of his dismissal.
Spurs made the most of their man advantage and earned the three points with goals from Dele Alli and Ben Davies to get their title hunt off to the perfect start.
BBC pundit Crooks has delivered a damning verdict on Shelvey after his incident on Sunday and feels he doesn’t deserve to wear the captain’s armband again.
“As for Shelvey, he should seriously consider doing something other than continually embarrassing Rafael Benitez and the fans of Newcastle United,” Crooks told BBC Sport. “It’s a great city with a great team and they both deserve a great captain – not a thug in a Newcastle shirt.”
Newcastle will now be looking to bounce back immediately and travel to fellow promoted side Huddersfield next Saturday in their second fixture.
OPINION
Crooks is spot on when he claims that Shelvey should not wear the armband again as his reckless moment ultimately cost his side. They were well in the game after the opening 45 minutes and Spurs were growing frustrated the further the game went. However, Shelvey’s red card knocked all the life out of the Newcastle team and he has been right to since apologise to his teammates. The issue with stamp means that they will be without one of their key players for another three games, something which could have a really negative impact on their start to the season.