Robert to be shown the exit door?

Last updated : 12 January 2003 By Martyn Elliott

Robert attempts a rare tackle
The Frenchman has incurred the wrath of his manager by unbelievably criticising his team mates for a lack of effort in the cup defeat at Wolves.

It is one thing for whole-hearted players like Alan Shearer and Lomana LuaLua to complain about a lack of commitment from their colleagues, but when the main culprit is doing the moaning it is unacceptable.

"Laurent should be the first person to do what he says on his web site - and we've told him that," raged Sir Bobby.

"We had a long meeting with everybody on Monday and said we won't put up with the performances that we saw against Wolves.

"Players here are on big contracts, but if we don’t get the best from them we’ll have to do something about it."

The French whinger’s latest outburst included the following appraisal of his captain.

"Shearer loves to score. Where he is on the pitch is of little importance - he always shoots even if he's in a bad position. It's something I reproach him for because sometimes I'm better placed.

"It's the same with set pieces. I'm not bad in that area of the game but he wants to take them.

"I have the impression that the whole team is playing for Shearer and I'm forgotten a little bit."

If Robert had any understanding of what being a supporter of Newcastle United is about he’d know better than to come out with rubbish like that.

Shearer is the centre of the team because he is a world class footballer, Robert doesn’t get the ball as often as he’d like because he doesn’t put in the hard work required to find space.

And for him to criticise another player for not passing often enough beggars belief.

I can only hope that we receive a sizeable bid for him in the next couple of weeks, as his departure can not come soon enough for me.