by Sunderland’s Nicklas Bendtner and Newcastle’s Shola Ameobi have been slammed by fans, players and managers after the pair blighted yesterday’s Tyne-Wear derby with a goal apiece.
An otherwise enjoyable ninety minutes of mild violence was marred by a goal in each half, and pundits have been quick to criticise the pair.
“It was a great game between the two sides, full of passion, commitment, and people running around kicking each other.” said Newcastle United legend Alan Shearer.
“Lee Cattermole set the tone for a classic as only he can; by trying to end Tiote’s career in the first minute. And it just got better and better from there.”
“There were a number of tackles bordering on assault, a pretty weak punch to the face and some terrible play-acting, everything you want from a modern premier league derby.”
“But then Bendtner went and scored a goal, Shola retaliated with one of his own and that really let everybody down and put a dampener on the whole thing.”
North-east Derby
Bendtner, on loan from Arsenal, could face sanctions after replays appeared to show that his goal may have been deliberate, while Ameobi’s at least looked like he didn’t know what he was doing.
Shearer was very critical of the pair in his analysis, telling viewers, “The only thing you can say for Shola is that Bendtner scored first, but he should know better than to react like that and he’ll be disappointed with himself.”
“To be fair to the pair of them though, neither really has a history of doing this sort of thing, it’s a bit out of character and I don’t see either of them making a habit of scoring goals.”
