Gary Lineker lauds huge Liverpool ‘decision’ v Newcastle which left Alan Shearer disappointed | OneFootball

Alan Shearer admitted that he’d privately been daring Alexander Isak to take Liverpool’s stoppage-time penalty against Newcastle on Sunday.

The Swedish striker was unsurprisingly subjected to a torrent of vitrol from the Tyneside natives as he returned to St James’ Park for the first time since his protracted £125m transfer to the Reds a year ago.

He was unable to make a telling impact against his former club, with his performance questioned by Michael Owen, and he wasn’t tasked with taking the spot kick that the visitors were awarded in added time.

Dominik Szoboszlai instead stepped up to score the equaliser and ensure that the points would be divided evenly between the teams.

(Photo by George Wood/Getty Images)

Shearer was hoping Isak would take the penalty

Along with Gary Lineker and Micah Richards, Shearer was looking back at the penalty incident on the new episode of The Rest Is Football, and he’d wanted Isak to show the requisite character to assume responsibility for the spot kick.

The Geordie said: “I was thinking, ‘Go on, come and take the penalty! What have you got? Go and grab the ball and take the penalty, Isak.'”

Lineker argued that it was sensible from Liverpool to let Szoboszlai take it, saying: “I think that was the right decision from Liverpool not to give it to [Isak] because that pressure would have been enormous. I was thinking, ‘Surely not? Surely he’s not going to take this?'”

Shearer replied: “I wanted him to go and take it. I was thinking, ‘Come on, you’ve been absolutely battered. Let’s see what you’ve got. Go and grab the ball and take the penalty.'”

(Photo by George Wood/Getty Images)

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Szoboszlai was the safer bet for pressure penalty

Obviously it’s easy to say in hindsight that it was the right call for Szoboszlai to take the penalty because he scored it, but even in the moment it felt as though Isak shouldn’t be tasked with that responsibility.

It may have been the perfect opportunity for him to silence the Newcastle fans who’d been goading him all day, but just think of what would’ve happened had he taken it and missed. The schadenfreude would’ve been off the charts and the striker’s confidence could’ve plummeted.

The risks seemed to outweigh the rewards in that instance, and the Hungarian midfielder was able to step up without any of the extra baggage with which the Swedish marksman would’ve had to contend.

Even with the highly charged St James’ Park atmosphere being disregarded, Szoboszlai was objectively a safer bet to take that stoppage-time penalty, having converted 20 out of the 22 he’d taken in his club career at that point (90.9% success), whereas Isak’s record is 19 successful spot kicks out of 25 (76%).

Shearer would no doubt have loved to see the ex-Newcastle striker stepping up and missing the penalty, but thankfully Liverpool’s number 8 took responsibility and duly delivered for his team in their moment of need.