Martin O’Neill lays into Alan Shearer over Fulham criticism

Republic of Ireland head coach Martin O’Neill has laid into Alan Shearer over his own managerial credentials.

O’Neill was angered by criticism of Ireland international and Fulham right-back Cyrus Christie.

Shearer had laid into the 26-year-old, who struggled at wing-back in the 5-1 defeat to Arsenal.

“Arsenal identified a weakness, which was down Fulham’s right-hand side, particularly Christie,” Shearer told Match of the Day.

“And time and time again, whether it was Alex Iwobi, whether it was Danny Welbeck, they got into those areas and dominated in that position.

“Christie was constantly going forward, not worrying about defending. Three v three, look at Christie here… He’s walking. His team is in trouble. His first thought has to be, get back and help.

“Now look at him on the halfway line there, he jogs, Nacho Monreal is away and all of a sudden he realises and it’s too late.

“Ball into the box, first goal, punished because you’re not thinking defensively. It was so alarming.

“I don’t want to pick on him, but that was the side Arsenal looked at and that was the side that Arsenal dominated and were superb. They could have and should have scored some more.”

But O’Neill has lambasted the pundit, and poked fun at his rather short managerial stint at Newcastle in 2009.

“When you play a wing-back role, the first thing people will now ask you is, ‘What are the manager’s instructions?’,” the Ireland manager said.

“Now, it is mostly that they ask the wing-backs to stay very high up the pitch and not worry about coming back.

“I’ve asked Cyrus about this because the first thing I thought of when Alan Shearer was having a go is, ‘He hasn’t thought this out’.

“Maybe that’s why he only managed eight games, that might be something to do with it.

“He should have prefaced things by saying, ‘I don’t know what the manager has said’ because, at the end of the day, the manager has asked him to stay up the pitch and not worry about getting back.

“I don’t think the severe criticism was warranted, that’s my view.”

Shearer did actually face O’Neill in one of his eight games as manager, when Aston Villa consigned Newcastle to relegation on the final day of the 2008/09 season with a 1-0 win at St James’ Park. Ouch.