Knee injury threatens to end Shearer's
career
Alan Shearer's career could be over after the Newcastle skipper
suffered suspected knee ligament
damage in the derby victory at Sunderland.
The 35-year-old had fired his side ahead with a 61st-minute
penalty, his 206th goal for the club, when he was hurt in a
challenge with substitute Julio Arca.
He tried to play on, but limped from the pitch at the Stadium of
Light to be replaced by Albert Luque with 19 minutes
remaining.
Caretaker manager Glenn Roeder later admitted there is real concern
Shearer might not play in the remaining three Barclays Premiership
fixtures of his final season, which will be followed by his
testimonial on May 11.
'There is real concern that he has a ligament injury, and with the
season running down now, that he might not be fit before the end of
the season,' he said.
'I hope so much that is not the truth and it won't work out that
way, but we are really concerned.
'He's had a brace put on his knee. It was the body-weight of the
man who fell on top of him that his knee couldn't take and
over-stretched the ligament.
'Tomorrow, the doctors will have a look at it, a close look, and
see how much swelling there is there and lack of movement.
'It will certainly be scanned and once we see the scan, I suppose
there will be a decision and an opinion given on whether he's got
any chance of playing in these last few weeks of the season.
'But I'll remain positive there is a chance we will still get him
back on the pitch, maybe in the very last game of the season.
'I didn't really get a chance to see Alan too much in the dressing
room afterwards, but he was lying on the table there looking pretty
despondent, of course.
'But he was so happy with the result, he forgot his own problem for
a few minutes, and he made sure he congratulated every single of
our players on what was a remarkable turn-around.'
Shearer's strike at the Stadium of Light - his first at the ground
in club colours - was his 206th for Newcastle and the 409th of his
senior career for Southampton, Blackburn, the Magpies and
England.
'Alan Shearer was summed up in the two seconds before we could get
him off the pitch,' said Roeder.
'He was hobbling with what looks like potentially a bad ligament
injury and a Sunderland player was carrying the ball forward and he
turned around and tried to make a tackle where most players would
have been lying on the floor curled up.
'That just sums up Alan and why he's had the career he's had and
why he's the person he is. It's a shame they don't make more people
like that.'
Shearer's injury overshadowed a remarkable game in which the Black
Cats, still looking for a first home Premiership win of the season,
dominated for almost an hour.
Justin Hoyte fired them ahead with the first goal of his loan spell
from Arsenal with 32 minutes gone, and the Wearsiders remained in
the driving seat until the arrival of substitute Michael
Chopra.
The newcomer announced himself with his own opening league goal
within 13 seconds, profiting from hesitation between Steve Caldwell
and goalkeeper Kelvin Davis.
Hoyte's tug on Charles N'Zogbia gave Shearer the chance to make it
2-1 from the penalty spot, then N'Zogbia wrapped up the points with
a third after 66 minutes.
By the time Albert Luque broke his goalscoring duck for Newcastle
two minutes from time, many of the home fans among a crowd of
40.032 had already left.
'For 90 minutes on Friday (at Manchester United) and for 60 minutes
up until they scored their first goal today, you saw a real
progression in the way we played and the way we moved the ball,'
said caretaker Sunderland boss Kevin Ball.
'Everything about them was what I wanted. I said to the players
before the game, `In life you get moments and make memories - make
today one of those days'.
'Unfortunately from the first goal onwards, they have made a memory
of the wrong sort.
'The way we conceded the goals hurts the most because, with the
utmost respect to Newcastle, I feel we beat ourselves today as
opposed to Newcastle beating us.'
Newcastle have three games left this season, with Shearer set to
retire at the end of the campaign. Should he fail to return his
last goal will be a strike against his side's bitter rivals.
'It's a great way to go out if it is,' he said on Sky Sports
News.
'I've been waiting five or six years for a penalty against this lot
because I missed my last one against Sunderland, and the wait was
worthwhile.
'There was a lot of frustration and anger in that penalty.'
He added: 'It was a tremendous turnaround from us because we were
rubbish in the first half and the manager has come in and let us
know what he expected from us.
'To be fair to the boys they've delivered that in style.'
