Howe dismisses Shearer's criticism of Gordon's non-start
Newcastle boss Eddie Howe has hit back at Alan Shearer's criticism of Anthony Gordon after he failed to start Tuesday night's Champions League draw with Barcelona because of illness.
The Magpies' record goal scorer questioned why Gordon was well enough to take a seat on the bench, but not to start - in his role as a pundit - before the game, telling Amazon Prime: "I know he doesn't feel well, but this is Barcelona at Newcastle for a place in the quarter-finals of the Champions League.
"It would take something extraordinary to keep myself out of this game tonight."
Wayne Rooney was also critical, while Shearer was backed by former Republic of Ireland and Manchester United skipper Roy Keane, who told the Overlap: "How can you be ill, but come on for half an hour?"
However speaking at his press conference on Friday morning, head coach Howe, who confirmed the frontman had not trained on Tuesday morning, volunteered: "I do have to clear something up with Anthony Gordon. He was absolutely willing to play in the game against Barcelona.
"I know there's a lot of comments. It was my decision not to start him based on the fact that he'd been ill that morning and hadn't attended the training session.
"He was prepared to play, but in consultation with the medical team, he didn't think he was fit to play."
Gordon was introduced as a 67th-minute replacement for Anthony Elanga at St James' Park as the Magpies took a late lead through Harvey Barnes' goal, only for Lamine Yamal to snatch a 1-1 draw for the visitors with a stoppage-tie penalty.
Howe now faces a decision over whether or not to restore the 25-year-old England international - who has scored 10 goals in Europe to date this season - to his team at Chelsea in the Premier League on Saturday or save him for Wednesday night's crucial trip to the Nou Camp.
Asked about his character and importance to the team, Howe, who revealed skipper Bruno Guimaraes had asked to travel to Barcelona with the team after his planned return from rehabilitation in Brazil on Monday, said: "Ant, I'd probably categorise him as a winner.
"He wants to win everything, he's a real competitor. He's got that streak to him that I think all top players need where he's very single-minded, very focused on his development and his game.
"I can only speak really glowingly of him this year. It hasn't been a straightforward season for him. He's had a lot of challenges, as every player does.
"But I think he's probably in the best moment that he's been this season currently. He's playing really well. He's played, obviously a different role for us, adapted to that really, really well.
"There's a lot of pressure on him and a lot of media attention on him and rightly so - he's an England international.
"He'll (have) his own aims and goals that he wants to achieve, but I think he's done really well."
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