Sky Sports pundit Matt Le Tissier has hammered Newcastle United midfielder Jonjo Shelvey after his controversial tackle on Manchester United’s Paul Pogba in their 2-0 defeat at St James’ Park.
The English midfielder was the centre of attention for all the wrong reasons in the first game of the new year on Tyneside, planting his boot into the back of the French maestro’s knee when going for a loose ball, with many fans and pundits berating him for his actions.
Le Tissier has now waded in on the debate and insisted that Shelvey intended to do what he did to Pogba in a damning verdict.
He told Sky Sports’ Soccer Saturday (05/01, 12:12): “It’s not great, it’s not nice. Jonjo’s got this in him, it’s nasty, he knows what he’s doing.
“It doesn’t even look like hes going for the ball, he knows he can’t get to it through Paul Pogba, it’s nasty.”
Opinion
There is no defending Shelvey’s actions here – it was dangerous, reckless and worthy of a ban. He was very, very lucky that the referee saw it and did not give him a straight red card, for it meant that he also escaped retrospective action. It had looked like the midfielder had put his disciplinary issues behind him but this has shot him straight back into the limelight and all attention will be on him when he next steps onto the pitch, not least from the officials. He is now likely going to see 50/50 decisions going against him and needs to be wary over picking up silly bookings. There is no questioning that the tackle on Pogba was a red card offence though and if he does the same thing again, someone could be seriously injured. Le Tissier is right to jump on the bandwagon of critics – no one should be able to back him up over what he did.