Shearer slams 'crazy, stupid decision' by Clark after red card
‘What on earth are you doing?’: Alan Shearer SLAMS ‘crazy, stupid decision’ by Ciaran Clark to pull back Teemu Pukki which led to him getting sent off just nine minutes into Newcastle’s crucial clash with Norwich
- Ciaran Clark was sent off just nine minutes into Newcastle’s clash with Norwich
- The defender passed the ball straight to Teemu Pukki before pulling him down
- Clark was shown the red card giving Newcastle a huge task ahead of them
- Newcastle legend Alan Shearer criticised Clark following his sending off
Alan Shearer has slammed Ciaran Clark after the defender was sent off just nine minutes into Newcastle’s six-pointer clash with Norwich.
Eddie Howe’s side arrived into the game desperately needing three points after not taking a victory in any of their opening 13 league games.
But their huge game against 19th place Norwich could not get off to a worse start after Clark made two mistakes in the space of five seconds.
Ciaran Clark made a huge mistake and then pulled Teemu Pukki back as he was running through on goal
The referee had no choice but to send Clark off for preventing a goalscoring opportunity
The defender’s first mistake was a poor clearance which fell straight to Norwich striker Teemu Pukki who was sent bursting through on goal.
Clark then pulled the Finnish international to the ground and the referee had no choice but to send him off.
After the referee brandished the red card, Newcastle legend Shearer ripped into Clark for his mistake.
Alan Shearer said it was a ‘crazy, stupid decision’ by Clark to pull Pukki back after his original mistake
On commentary for Amazon Prime, he said: ‘What on earth are you doing? You talk about individual errors.
‘The first one is getting the ball to Pukki – let him go it’s early in the game if he scores he scores there’s still time to come back from that. Crazy stupid decision from Ciaran Clark to pull Teemu Pukki back then.
‘There’s the first mistake what on earth is he doing let him go if he has to go.
‘Time to come back from 1-0 down with 11 men. Referee has no choice absolutely right decision. Madness.’
After Norwich took their free-kick, Shearer continued to slam Clark’s sending off.
He said: ‘You know you get here you go into the game, your manager is under pressure, all the players are under pressure you’re saying to yourselves “don’t make any stupid errors” in the early ten or 15 minutes.
Eddie Howe looked furious after the incident which left his team with a huge up-hill task
‘Grow into the game. You’ve just seen two there from Clark in 5 seconds and it could cost Newcastle big time.’
As Clark headed off the pitch, Newcastle manager Howe looked furious at his player’s mistake.
On Amazon Prime coverage, pundits Les Ferdinand and Eni Aluko both agreed it was a blatant red card.
Former Newcastle striker Ferdinand said: ‘As a manager you can’t legislate for individual errors.
‘Ciaran Clark looks like he’s about to beat the ball away he doesn’t. Gives it to Pukki and it’s just a mad reaction.
Heading into the game Newcastle were bottom – three points behind 19th place Norwich
‘We’ve see it all the time with defenders where maybe they handball in the box and you go why? It’s like that.
‘You just can’t understand why… even if you let him go through on goal and he scores at least you’ve got 11 men on the pitch and can have a go at getting that goal back. All of a sudden you think this was tough before, this is even tougher now.’
Aluko added: ‘There’s two errors there the initial clearance which was a poor clearance then it’s just desperate and stupid.
‘It certainly wasn’t the right decision to pull him back, straight red card. You could see Eddie Howe he was like that’s the last thing we need.’
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