Alan Shearer has announced his Premier League team of the season, and it unsurprisingly includes a fair few Newcastle United figures.
The Toon legend has already stated that Kieran Trippier is his Toon player of the season, and the 32-year-old features in Shearer‘s entire Premier League team.
He is the only outfield Newcastle player to feature in the team, but there is also an appearance for goalkeeper Nick Pope, who was selected ahead of Aaron Ramsdale, Alisson Becker, David De Gea and Ederson.
Shearer explains his selections
The rest of Shearer’s team consists of four Manchester City players, two from Arsenal, and one each from Manchester United, Brighton and Tottenham Hotspur.
His team in full is: Pope; Trippier, Stones, Saliba, Estupinan; Rodri, De Bruyne, Odegaard, Rashford; Kane, Haaland.
The Match Of The Day pundit has explained his choices, justifying his decision to include Toon superstars and England internationals Pope and Trippier.
On Pope, Shearer wrote: “He’s played behind a really mean defence, but when teams have got through that defence, he’s barely put a foot wrong all season.”
On Trippier, he wrote: “He’s skippered Newcastle to an incredible season. Hardly let anyone down and gave magnificent performances week after week.”
Shearer has only chosen two Newcastle United players in his Premier League team of the season, but he has got Toon manager Eddie Howe pulling the strings.
Shearer picks Eddie Howe as manager of his team
The Magpies’ all-time leading scorer has chosen Howe as the manager for his team of the season, and explained why his achievement this season is so special.
“For him to have taken Newcastle into the top four, and back to the Champions League, has been superb,” he wrote.
“Not only has he brought players in and improved them, but he’s also done the same with the players that were already there. What a job he’s done!”
Shearer has gone against the Premier League with his decision of Howe for manager of the season. That is after the Premier League gave their award to Man City boss Pep Guardiola.
The Spaniard was named manager of the season after a combination of public votes and a panel of football experts. They decided that Guardiola deserved the honour ahead of Howe, which seems like the incorrect decision.
Obviously we are biased, but how can Guardiola get it over Howe? Sure, he is the Premier League’s winning manager, but he was expected to come out on top. Sure, if Man City win the treble then fair enough – but this is a Premier League award.
Howe’s achievement is much more impressive, taking a team that were threatened with relegation last season into the Champions League. It is absolutely astonishing, which is why Shearer has gone with Howe over Guardiola – and rightly so!
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