Not taking the piss, as i rate him as one of, if not the best strikers ever in the Prem. Senior career* Years Team Apps (Gls) 1988–1992 Southampton 118 (23) 1992–1996 Blackburn Rovers 138 (112) 1996–2006 Newcastle United 303 (148) Total 559 (283 Thats impressive. But as you lot seen him week in week out, was there more to his game than just the goals? Is he the best player to have played at Sid James Camp Nou that you have seen for your team? Was it a mistake for him to go home rather than going to Man U? Part deux. If not him, who is the best player you have seen there overall? I will accept that it maybe hard for you to admit to Kevin Phillips, but thats the nature of the beast.
Comm, when he signed for us in 1996 we were standing toe to toe with Man Utd, it certainly wasn't a mistake on his part that he came to us. He came here to win. SuperKev was a cracking player for Sunderland, no mistake about that either.
Shearer was also one of the best crossers of the ball. The best player I've seen live is probably Dennis Bergkamp. His ability on the ball was breathtaking.
Reference KP, he never got the chance to play against Europe's Elite or indeed feature regularly for England. He was a good top flight goalscorer though but I'm afraid you won't find many fans outside of SAFC who would rate him as one of the best. For me, players like Henry, Shearer, Bergkamp, Wright, Beardsley, Ferdinand, Cole, Rooney and Fowler would be first off the top of most people's head in terms of stature in the game, ability and statistical prowess. You'll see the goal scoring charts on the attached link and note that even Darren Bent scored more in the EPL than KP: https://www.statbunker.com/alltimestats/AllTimeLeadingScorers?comp_code=EPL
Shearer was consistently awesome, but is definitely not the best striker ever in the Prem imo - Henry, Van Nitelrooy, Bergkamp.,Aguero and Cole all better imo. Also very slightly overrated in terms of his time at us, lots seem to overlook the fact he never reached his Blackburn levels while with us; heard lots say he's our best player ever, and I'd have to disagree with that. He's easily in the top5 for me, but Supermac and Beardsley are ahead.
Never saw Supermac live but I'd certainly agree re Pedro - I'd have Sir Les well up there as the most complete Centre Forward I've seen. Shearer's goalscoring was awesome but Ferdinand for all round contribution
I'm not disputing he was a great player for us, just not THE best, in terms of Newcastle players, Supermac and Beardsley were both better. And regardless of his contribution to us, his time at Blackburn was more successful both in terms of goal ratio and actually winning something.
All that seems to be being discussed with respect to Shearer is his attacking abilities. These were, obviously, exceptional but were just one aspect of his game. His ability to hold up the ball and draw free kicks made him invaluable as an outlet when we were under pressure. Lump it to Shearer, let him be fouled, get a moments rest and an opportunity to change from defence to attack. His defensive abilities at corners and set plays was also very good. Easily the best player I've personally seen play for Newcastle but I only go back to 99. Kluivert was probably the most talented but was on whole a waste of space.
When Shearer first came to us he was much, much more than just a goal-scorer. The easiest game for me to think of was the 5-0 vs Man Utd, other than score he also set up a couple of the goals and one was a fantastic cross. His hold up play and link-up play were as good as anyones and he is one of the best crossers we've had in the past few decades (behind Nobby of course). In his latter days he was much more an out-and-out striker but he was regularly paired with worse players (Jon Dahl, Andreas Andersson, Guivarch, etc) - alongside Big Dunc and Bellamy he looked like a complete player again. He was not a Lineker tap in/ speed merchant he was a beast! Best player at St James? Newcastle: Ginola, Beardsley and Cabaye (occasionally Ben Arfa and Dyer were that sort of class but not enough) all good shouts. The actual best I've watched play for us was probably Woodgate - he transformed our defence whenever he was on the pitch, when we had an unexpected run at the title under Bobby is was the match we won at Chelsea (2-1) where he was stretchered off when we lost any chance (we were only a couple of points off top with about 7 games to go). Others: SKP was a very good player but Zola, Bergkamp and Henry were on a different class to most others I've seen but Scholes seem to just put us to the sword with ease so I'd go for him.
You don't agree with what, that he wasn't our best player or that his best years were at Blackburn? In terms of the later point, even Shearer himself would agree I'd say, he got 30+ goals in every season he was there, was awesome in every department and had the perfect striker partner in Chris Sutton. Whilst being great for us, he never reached those heights again. Regarding the first point, I think it's a bit lame if you say your best ever player was one whose best years were at another club.
I think Drogba can be linkened to shearer. When Drogba came on the scene, he was prolific, definatley not very top level (bare in mind he never took pens as Lamps was there) but Drogba bought so much more to the team, he was a fanny about it, diving about drawing free kicks, but he would get back for defensive set pieces. He was that focal point very much the same as shearer. As captain Shearer led the way, stuck into everything, screamed at other players, played through the pain barrier and he didnt have the pace to zip around, but still closed defenders down and would throw himself infront of a bus to score. That in itself shows that he made the right decision and if asked he would honestly say he never regretted turning down man u
I think we need to define "best" here when we talk about the "best player" we have seen. Does it mean most skilful on his day ? If so, then we need to start adding in players like Laurent Robert, who may very well have been given a larger dose of talent by god than Shearer got and could be a magician on his day. Or HBA, Kluivert, Cabaye, etc. Does it mean effective and important to the team ? If so then in this millennium it can only be Shearer. He was central to everything he did for a decade. Cabaye had perhaps the same importance for a few months, Woodgate for about the same, a handful of players for a handful of games. All of them are footnotes in NUFC history, though. Shearer has a chapter of his own. As for the best (as in most effective) player for any team, I would have to go for Henry.
