By Matthew Jones
November 3 2003

Newcastle United manager Sir Bobby Robson has backed skipper Alan Shearer to bounce back after he saw his penalty saved by Aston Villa Keeper Thomas Sorensen once again, saying that he doesn't "crib about penalties". SIR BOBBY:

"It wasn't quite Alan's day, but I never crib about penalties. He's his own master at the penalties.

"He's taken far more penalties than I have and had far more success, so he knows more about penalties than I do.

"Occasionally I speak to him about penalties, but I'll leave it to him to sort it all out. He feels worse than anybody in the club, so I understand that.

"There's no crib from me for people who miss penalties, except that I wish he hadn't. But it's part of the game and you have to put aside that disappointment. We know if he takes it, we win it.

"We're very disappointed, and more than that, I think justifiably well frustrated. We've had enough ball possession and chances in the last two games here in four days to have won four games, and we haven't won one.

"Our football is very good. Again we played nice football, we spread the play, we made chances, we dominated the game.

"We've just lost a match we should have just won, but there's nothing wrong with our football, nothing wrong with our enthusiasm, nothing wrong with our commitment, we're just missing chances."

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