Shearer poor one-on-one — Yakubu

Former Super Eagles striker Yakubu Aiyegbeni has sparked debate after naming Thierry Henry as his all-time favourite Premier League goalscorer over Alan Shearer, while suggesting the Englishman was not as strong in one-on-one situations against goalkeepers.

Speaking on the Head2Head Clubhouse podcast, Yakubu said Shearer’s goalscoring numbers and records remain undisputed, but argued that Henry possessed superior individual brilliance, technique, pace and all-round quality.

“One-on-one he’s poor. Scoring goals, he’s unbelievable, don’t get it twisted, you know, he’s a proper number nine, but my all-time Premier League striker is Thierry Henry, he’s special,” Yakubu said.

The comments have drawn attention given Yakubu’s own history with high-profile misses in front of goal, most notably his open-net miss for Nigeria against South Korea in the Super Eagles’ final Group B match at the 2010 FIFA World Cup in Durban.

With Nigeria trailing 2-1 and needing an outright win to qualify for the second round, Yakubu fired wide from close range with the goalkeeper beaten, in what Shearer himself, working as a pundit for the BBC at the time, described as the worst miss he had ever seen.

Yakubu later converted a penalty to level the scores, but the game finished 2-2, and Nigeria were eliminated at the group stage.

Despite the criticism that has followed him since, Yakubu, who scored 21 goals in 58 appearances for the Super Eagles, has consistently defended his overall international career, insisting the miss should not define his contribution to Nigerian football.