RAGE ... Toon boss Alan
Shearer
Fuming Toon boss Alan Shearer will read the riot act to
the Nigerian striker this morning after he pulled out of the 1-1
draw with a groin injury.
Shearer said: “I wasn’t too happy I got the call at 11
o’clock, particularly after we trained all Thursday and Friday and
had massages on Friday evening and there was no sign of it.”
He was particularly annoyed as the team had been
working all week on a three-man attacking system which involved
Martins, skipper Michael Owen and Shola Ameobi. But all that was
thrown up in the air by Martins’ late pullout.
Shearer was clearly still angry after the game and
added: “He said he’d woken with a sore groin and was unable to
play.
“We got the doctors and physios to have a look at him
and he couldn’t play. I’m not happy with the situation, to find out
so late in the day.
“After working the last two or three days on a
particular system it was disappointing and we had to reshuffle the
pack.
“He didn’t sleep in - that’s not true. I spoke to him
and asked him and I’ll speak to him again.”
Toon coach Colin Calderwood was told to calm down after
he got into an argument in the Stoke directors’ box over his
relaying of instructions to the bench via a radio.