By Matthew Jones
October 23 2003

Sir Bobby Robson has warned Shola Ameobi that he is going to have to toughen up if he is going to realise and play to his full potential. Robson accused the England Under-21 international of "playing like a boy" in the first-half of the match away at Fulham on Tuesday. Sir Bobby Robson has warned Shola Ameobi that he is going to have to toughen up if he is going to realise and play to his full potential.

Robson accused the England Under-21 international of "playing like a boy" in the first-half of the match away at Fulham on Tuesday - however, he did fight back and played a big part in United's dramatic comeback.

Ameobi scored the winner against Middlesbrough at the weekend and won the penalty for Alan Shearer to equalise at Loftus Road midweek. He also had a cracking game for the England U21 side against Turkey.

ROBOSN SAID: "Shola knows that he is going to have to toughen up if he is to realise his potential.

"He cannot allow defenders to bully and dominate him. He has to be stronger and a bit more aggressive at times.

"For the first 20 minutes at Fulham he played like a boy, but we had a go at him and he played like a man after that. Once he did that we had two strikers instead of one-and-a-half.

"He had that difficult spell at the start of the season when Craig Bellamy was first out and we lost three games in a week. Shola started those games and by his own admission he did not play very well.

"He was trying things and they weren't coming off. It was a tough time for him and the team, but he has bounced back and that takes a lot of strength in itself."

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