Too much, too soon

So while Alan Shearer’s spell in charge of Newcastle is only in its 22nd day, it has already witnessed a frantic attempt to change anything and everything.

Players eating at different times? Force them to sit together in an attempt to forge team spirit. Players constantly getting injured?

Order a review of training techniques and medical practice. Players not doing what they’re meant to?

Change tactics three or four times in the opening 30 minutes of a game.

Off the pitch, Shearer’s tinkering has had much to commend it. Unity is important in a relegation battle, and by pulling together a squad that had begun to splinter into factions, the former skipper has focused minds at a crucial stage of the season.

But sometimes, you can do too much, too soon, and on the field, Shearer’s constant changes have hindered rather than helped.

The first half of Sunday’s game at Tottenham was little short of a shambles, with players not appearing to know what they were meant to be doing following their manager’s decision to retain the three-man central defence he had introduced at Stoke eight days earlier.

In the opening 31 matches of the season, Newcastle did not play with three at the back once. Suddenly, ahead of arguably their two most important away games, they were expected to slip seamlessly into a system that was alien to them.

Injury was a mitigating factor – Shearer might have stuck with a flat back four had Jose Enrique not been injured – but the upshot was that Newcastle claimed one point out of six when they surely needed at least three.

As a result, they entertain Portsmouth on Monday knowing a win is essential if they are to avoid relegation, and while Shearer will inevitably be dreaming up ever-more elaborate schemes to secure success, he would be advised to keep it simple.

This is no time for experiment, and when Pompey roll into Tyneside next week, Newcastle should field their 11 best players in the positions that suit them best. No fancy systems, no surprise selections. Play the best back four available, name Nicky Butt, not Kevin Nolan, as a lone holding midfielder, and reprise the attacking triumvirate of Michael Owen, Obafemi Martins and Mark Viduka that did so much to keep the Magpies in the Premier League last season.

Then, simply instruct them to attack. Back to basics has become a pejorative term in recent years, but in Newcastle’s case, it is the best advice available in the heart of a relegation battle.

SPEAKING of Newcastle, it was interesting to see Owen modelling the club’s new home kit yesterday.

It was hard to be too sure because of the camera angles, but I don’t think the shirt has a Football League logo on its arm yet. If it does at the start of August, it’s a fairly safe bet that Owen won’t be seen anywhere near it.

EIGHT Englishmen and two Scotsmen made the British Lions squad for this summer’s tour of South Africa, and that’s probably a fair reflection of the two countries’ performances in this year’s Six Nations.

But once you get down to the nitty-gritty of sorting the Test players from the dirt-trackers, it’s not hard to imagine a First Test XV made up entirely of players from Ireland and Wales.

Lee Byrne is almost certain to start at full-back, with two from Tommy Bowe, Tom Shanklin and Shane Williams likely to complete the back three. Brian O’Driscoll and Jamie Roberts should line up in the centre, with Stephen Jones and Mike Phillips favourites to form an all- Welsh pairing at half-back.

Gethin Jenkins, Jerry Flannery and Adam Jones could form the front row, it will be hard to split Paul O’Connell and Donncha O’Callaghan at lock, and an all-Irish back row of Stephen Ferris, David Wallace and Jamie Heaslip looks a distinct possibility.

If anyone is going to break up the Irish-Welsh duopoly, it is likely to be either Euan Murray or Andrew Sheridan, but if anyone is in any doubt as to just how far England and Scotland have fallen in recent years, they will receive a stark reminder in Durban on June 20.

AND if anyone wondered how low heavyweight boxing was willing to go in a futile attempt to recapture its glory days, the sight of David Haye wearing a T-shirt displaying the severed heads of Wladimir and Vitali Kiltschko provided a neat summation of a sport in crisis. Whatever Haye serves up in Germany next month – and on all available evidence, it is unlikely to be anything too spectacular – it will not excuse the nonsense that has dragged boxing into the gutter once again.