Alan Shearer “NUFC Top Four? Why Not!”

Alan Shearer has been talking about Newcastle United’s season so far and it is great to hear him so supportive of both Alan Pardew and his players.

As Newcastle United’s greatest ever striker (my opinion and that of plenty others) I always find it interesting to hear him when he does proper interviews like this one with goal.com, rather than the tripe on Match Of The Day.

As Shearer says, he has been thinking sixth or seventh which is a fair assessment of a team who have been in the top seven all season. Now though he has a doubt in his mind because the longer it goes on why shouldn’t the club aim for higher, with only a third or so of the season to go and currently a point off a Champions League spot surely NUFC have to have a blast at it.

Over to the ‘I’m only a sheet metal worker’s son’…..

“Let’s be honest, at the start of the season, no one really expected Newcastle to be where they are and if anyone says they did then they are lying and even the manager will tell you he didn’t expect it but they are up there on merit. They are winning games and they are entertaining the public and scoring goals. Where can they finish? I really don’t know.

I was thinking maybe they will end up in sixth or seventh place but the more I see of them then it makes me think I can’t be certain where they will be come May.

I will be keeping my fingers crossed on that one. Top four? Well why not. They have got nothing to lose, have they? No one gave them a prayer of actually getting there and everyone thought they would fall away after that unbeaten start to the season.

I would love to see them finishing in the top four and it would be great to have Champions League football back at St James’ Park.

I think the top three – Manchester City, Manchester United and Spurs – will finish where they are at the moment but there will be one place that is up for grabs. So why not? But then again Liverpool, Chelsea and Arsenal will all have their eyes on that fourth spot as well. Whatever happens, it certainly makes for an exciting end to the season.

It just doesn’t get any better than scoring a goal on your debut in front of the Gallowgate End and for it to be the winning goal as well that is the sort of thing that dreams are made of for Geordies.

It didn’t look as though he needed any help in terms of confidence but if he did then that should help him really settle down. There is nothing like a goal to help a striker find his feet when he arrives at a new club so this bodes really well for the future.

It was great seeing Demba Ba score as well because Newcastle have missed him because he has been an absolute revelation this season. That’s 16 goals and counting.

If Cisse can score half the goals that Ba has scored then they will be a threat to anyone in the Premier League. The early signs are really promising. Alan Pardew has clearly seen something in him and hopefully they can play together and form a great partnership. I don’t know which way the manager will go in terms of his strikeforce but it will be great if he does go in with the two of them in most games and the signs from the Villa game were very encouraging. They both got a goal so with a bit of luck they will continue in the same vein. And they have so much pace and power that they will give any defenders a run for their money.

The Tottenham game will be another big test for them. They have come through many tests this season already but it will be a tough game down at White Hart Lane”.