Is Phil an excitable Geordie in disguise?

Does anyone else think Phil McNulty is somewhat hasty?

I've blogged before about his flip-flopping over the title race, but now he is calling Shearer a genius after his first win

...Against Middlesbrough! Seriously Phil, you don't get a lot worse than that - let's be honest, if you don't beat Boro at home then you're useless, the flip side is not that you are a genius for beating them, would you like to know how many points Boro have picked up on the road in 2009....that's right - two (or three if you use the last six months), only West Brom are worse, and considering the Albion have managed to beat the Boro both home and away do you really rate Middlesboro as any sort of test?

Yes it was a local derby between two relegation threatened sides, but look at this rationally - it was Newcastle's game to win, yes, they could've drawn it, but to praise Shearer for making the fairly obvious move of replacing an ineffective Owen with the other main striker and winning the match is still a long way from anything special

I'm not slating Shearer, he's obviously doing enough somewhere, but you cannot base his success on a handful of games, if they had not won this it would've been a black mark against him, but to win it is merely a sign of at least competence

I remember looking at the fixture list a few weeks ago and expecting Newcastle to have the best chance, but also having to rely on Hull and Sunderland - this is what is happening, you cannot judge Shearer on the back of six games