ALAN SHEARER’S midfield picks for the best club XI he’s played with left Micah Richards and Gary Lineker in hysterics.
Lineker had set both Shearer and Richards the task of building a team composed of the best stars they’ve played alongside at club level during their professional careers on MOTD Top10.
But when they got to the midfield department, it soon became clear that ex-Manchester City defender Richards was more prepared than Newcastle’s former hot-shot Shearer.
Before the pundits even started reeling off the names of their midfield picks Richards defiantly declared victory.
He triumphantly boasted: “My midfield destroys his already, I can see the fear in his eyes!”, causing all three pundits to burst into laughter.
However, when Richards threw ex-City star Patrick Vieira’s name into the mix who Lineker had forgotten about, it was evident that the 33-year-old meant business.
Even Lineker had to admit that Richards’ line-up of David Silva and Viera was going to be tough for Shearer to beat, and he quipped: “You’re in trouble Al.”
But Richards wasn’t done there and went on to add another heavyweight to the middle of the park – Yaya Toure, who he also played with at the Etihad.
FREE BETS: GET THE LATEST BETTING SIGN UP OFFERS AND FREE BETS
At this point, Shearer practically threw in the towel and said: “My midfield might not be able to cope with this one.”
It was soon apparent why he was ready to raise the white flag when in comparison to Vieira and Toure, Shearer decided to choose ex-Toon duo Rob Lee and Tim Sherwood as his midfield compatriots.
Shearer had hardly finished off naming his former team-mates before Richards and Lineker burst out laughing at his choice.
Ex-Magpies captain Lee seemed to be the most shocking choice to Richards who while laughing managed to belt out his name.
Shearer also saw the funny side but was sticking to his guns, telling Richards who still hadn’t regained his composure: “That’s terrible! Twenty-odd caps for England.
“That’s disgraceful behaviour. I hope he’s listening to this!”
Shearer’s midfield choices didn’t sit well with some fans on Twitter either, and one wrote: “How do you come up with such crap players to go toe to toe against Yaya and Vieira?”, alongside a bunch of crying face emojis.
While another quipped: “Where’s the lie here though? Vieira and Toure would destroy them.”
But some fans stood in solidarity with Shearer’s picks, claiming Lee and Sherwood could go toe to toe with the world’s best.
One fan wrote: “Give me @7RobLee over Yaya Toure any day. Yes I’m biased… but he is an extremely underrated player.”
Another perplexed user waded into the debate saying: “To be fair, Tim Sherwood and Rob Lee were decent players??”
A third footy supporter even suggested when it’s wartime he’d happily go with Sherwood and Lee ahead of Toure and Vieira.
Last month, Richards and Shearer got together to pick the top 10 full-backs from the Premier League era.
But this time they were more agreeable on who should make the list, although they chose slightly different rankings of order among the defenders.
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
