Add as preferred source on Google

There is a ruthless nature to life at the top table of football.

Indeed, such are the ambitions Newcastle United have these days, the standards are very high. If they are going to topple the established elite, they certainly need to be.

Luckily, most of the players in the squad these days will be used to that.

If Lewis Hall was not, he certainly will be now.

Alan Shearer has recently been analysing the 19-year-old’s involvement at Chelsea last season in an article on The Athletic titled: “How Not To Score: Alan Shearer’s guide to missing chances.”

It’s fair to say he was pretty ruthless.

Newcastle news: Alan Shearer on Lewis Hall

The Newcastle legend was analysing a chance the Blues had against Manchester United last season, a game the west London giants lost 4-1 in May.

With the score at 0-0 at Old Trafford, Hall burst up the left flank and cut across for Mykhailo Mudryk, who missed the ball entirely when he only had the goalkeeper to beat.

Shearer wrote: “All of this is terrible, starting with the ball in from Lewis Hall. If the pass is hit a couple of yards ahead of Mudryk, he runs onto it without breaking stride, but he has to check, then go again. After that, the mess is all down to him.”

Opinion: All a learning curve for Lewis Hall

In that instance, Hall’s ball could have been better.

Still, Chelsea were an utter mess last season and struggled for goals generally, so to blame him alone would be far too over the top.

At 19, he has a lot his career to learn and the fact he’s not been thrust into the Newcastle first-team ahead of his £28m permanent move next summer does afford him the chance to hone his craft.

Given how well Eddie Howe has brought players along on the coaching field, you’d have to back him to.