Newcastle drew 0-0 with Fulham in a really poor game of football on Saturday afternoon and former player Alan Shearer thinks they were lucky not to concede a penalty.
Talking on Match of the Day (Sat, BBC1, 10.30pm), Shearer said that it was a “very poor” game and was asked his opinion on two penalty shouts, one for either side.
“It was a very poor game Gary, from two poor teams on the day,” Shearer said. “Joe Bryan On Kenedy, as much as I’d like to say yes it’s a penalty, no I’m not convinced. I don’t think it was enough of a tug.
“The next one I do think is a penalty, Mitrovic, Lascelles gets in the way and it does hit his arm. That one could have and should have been a penalty.”
OPINION
This was an awful game to watch, something all the Match of the Day pundits agreed with. It was pretty easy to slot this game into the running order and it’s doubtful any fans would have complained about it coming on last. However, it’s another point for Newcastle and, given the penalty that could have been, Newcastle will take it. It leaves them in 15th spot in the league, five points above the bottom three and seven points above Huddersfield and Fulham who are rock bottom with just two wins each. Rafa Benitez would have taken that as a Christmas position at the start of the season and it gives him a real base to work with in the second-half of the season. As is usual, he probably won’t have much satisfaction in the January transfer window, despite being linked with attacking sensation Miguel Almiron, but we think Newcastle will have enough to survive. And Benitez will be glad his former striker Mitrovic didn’t come back to haunt him at St James’ Park yesterday.