Alan Shearer was impressed with what he saw from Newcastle United star Jacob Murphy on Saturday.
Murphy scored the first goal as Newcastle United beat Fulham 2-1 in the Premier League to build on Tuesday night’s Champions League win over Benfica.
The Newcastle United winger also recorded an assist in that win over the Lisbon giants, taking his goal contribution tally up to one goal and three assists in ten appearances this season.
Murphy robbed Calvin Bassey of the ball in the first half before rushing on and sweeping a fine finish past a brilliant goalkeeper in the shape of Bernd Leno.
The 30-year-old should have scored a second shortly after but that doesn’t take away from the quality of his first.
Murphy took to social media platform Instagram after the game and Shearer was full of praise.
Jacob Murphy celebrates after scoring for Newcastle United against Fulham.
Photo by George Wood/Getty Images
On Saturday, Murphy took to Instagram to caption a collage of images of himself celebrating the goal: “Until the end! A win we needed!”
Shearer replied with: “Great finish.”
Indeed, the quality of the finish isn’t to be overlooked. While Murphy’s pressing is what created the chance in the first place, he still had an awful lot to do when he got there.
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Jacob Murphy had the Fulham coaching staff fuming
Fulham’s coaching staff were fuming with Murphy’s goal, given it was an avoidable mistake from their perspective.
Still, it spoke to the relentless nature with which Newcastle play when at their best. The late winner scored by Bruno Guimaraes also came about because of late pressure on the ball.
There hasn’t been enough of that from Newcastle this season, although the busy nature of their campaign perhaps explains that.
Murphy, however, proved that it remains a crucial part of their game. Even after pressing, he still had the class to finish.