Roeder surprised by Parker England snub

Glenn Roeder admitted his surprise and disappointment after seeing Scott Parker miss out on the latest England squad after turning in another excellent display in his side’s 2-0 Premiership victory over Everton.

The 25-year-old, wearing the captain’s armband in the absence of the injured Alan Shearer, who is expected to return from a calf injury against Bolton next weekend, led by example as the Magpies wore down the visitors before Nolberto Solano’s second-half double clinched the points.

“A little bit of both, I suppose,” said Roeder, when asked if his was surprised or disappointed by the news. “I would never attempt to choose someone else’s team – that would be very wrong of me.

“Football will always remain a game of opinion – it’s one of the great things about the game, that we are all allowed to have an opinion.

“But because I have been very lucky to have worked with England squad’s for two and a half years, I’m confident that Scott Parker would not look out of place in an England squad.

“He would not look out of place playing in the same team as a Lampard or a Gerrard.”

Parker’s efforts for his club have been at the heart of their revival under Roeder, who now has four wins and a draw to his name and four clean sheets in his five games at the helm.

Turkish international midfielder Emre, again playing off lone striker Shola Ameobi, twice cleared David Weir headers off the line before the break, but he had a hand in the opening goal, feeding Charles N’Zogbia to cross for Solano to fire home on 64 minutes.

But the Peruvian saved the best for last when he beat keeper Sander Westerveld with a delicious curling shot 12 minutes later to clinch the points.

“I told the players before the game, I’ve been a bit fed up with the negativity leading up to this game,” Roeder said.

“Because we haven’t got Alan (Shearer) playing, we haven’t got Michael (Owen) playing, we haven’t got Kieron (Dyer) playing and the best we could hope for was probably a 0-0 draw.

“I said to them that was absolute rubbish – in fact, I said we wouldn’t even settle for a draw before the game.

“I told them I didn’t think they had been shown the respect they deserve by the suggestion this team was not good enough to beat Everton, and they went out and they were terrific.”

Opposite number David Moyes left Tyneside not knowing quite how his side had lost the game.

“I thought we deserved to be in front at half-time – and I didn’t think we deserved to be down either, really,” he said.

“I wouldn’t say the goal was against the run of play, but I didn’t think it looked as if we were ever under a great deal of pressure and we were going to concede one. I thought we were doing fine.

“The first goal in the Premier League is so vital, and today, it was going to be vital.

“If we had got one of the goals that were cleared off the line in the first-half, it possibly would have been different.

“But I’m not disappointed with how we played, I thought we played very well, actually. I’m disappointed that we didn’t take our opportunities when we had them. When you come to Newcastle, you have got to take your chances.

“The first goal for me, we made a poor decision at the edge of their box which led to the goal, but apart from that, I was happy.

“The second one, the left back could maybe have got a bit tighter, but you have to give him credit, when Solano did come inside, he didn’t really get away from him, but he got enough room just to bend it away in the far corner with the outside of his right foot.

“You hold your hand up to that one, but I didn’t think we were under a great deal of pressure and were relatively comfortable.”