Fulham defender Cyrus Christie has hit back at Match of the Day pundit Alan Shearer after the former Newcastle striker criticised his performance against Arsenal.
Football.London write that Christie made the remarks after putting in a Man of the Match display for the Republic of Ireland against Denmark.
Christie started the 5-1 loss to Arsenal before the international break, when Alexandre Lacazette and Pierre-Emerick Aubemayang both scored a brace and Aaron Ramsey added the other.
Shearer claimed that the full-back was more focused on his attacking duties rather than defending, which put the Cottagers at a disadvantage.
However, Christie has had his say on the matter, claiming that he tries not to let comments in the media affect him. He said:
Someone told me about what he said and I turned my notifications off on Twitter. I always seem to get abuse whether I play well or whether I play badly. I’ll always have belief in myself, I’ll always back myself and my ability. Shearer’s got his opinion. He has to sit in the studio, he has to be positive and he has to be negative and I was the one he chose to be negative about. The manager (Slavisa Jokanovic) asked me to do a job and I stuck to that, I had to play high up the pitch.
There are a lot of pundits nowadays and that’s what they’re paid to do, to be negative. I’m not going to get disheartened about what he said. Shearer is a legend in the game, he’s been there and done it – not as a defender but you have to respect the opinion of people like that. I didn’t have the best of games and I’ll hold my hands up. On Saturday night with Ireland, I wanted to go out there and put on a performance. We live in a negative world. I’m a positive person, I’m laid back, I don’t get myself in trouble and I work hard.
The right-back is likely to keep his place in Slavisa Jokanovic’s starting XI for Saturday’s visit to Cardiff City, where the Cottagers will be hopeful of getting back to winning ways.
