Alan Shearer reveals Newcastle 'concerns' - Speaks out on weak link and fixture swing

Alan Shearer has revealed that he is ‘slightly concerned’ at the way that Newcastle’s midfield ‘folded’ in a 3-1 defeat to Brighton and believes it will be a big focus over the break. 

Despite upgrading in the middle of the park with the addition of Sandro Tonali, our midfield trio have been fairly lacklustre in our last three games, which have all ended in defeat. 

The Toon legend claimed that last weekend’s performance was a rare occasion where we ‘deserved to be beaten’ and that the final 20 minutes against Liverpool is also cause for concern.

He thinks Eddie Howe be working on our midfield dynamic over the break but insists there's still 'no panic' from his perspective, hoping things will turn ahead of 'three winnable games' against Brentford, Sheffield United and Burnley.

Here’s what Shearer told Premier League productions after our defeat at the Amex:

“There are concerns. You have to find a way when you haven’t been winning games. There haven’t been many times throughout Eddie’s reign that you look at a game and say ‘we deserved to be beaten’ but today was one of them.

“Newcastle have had a really good run of form leading into this season and they had a really good start against Aston Villa. It was always going to be really tough against City and Liverpool but I agree with Eddie in terms of last week against Liverpool - if you don’t take your chances you get punished.

“But I’d also be slightly concerned at the way the midfield folded in the last 20 minutes against Liverpool and how the midfield looked today.

“That was a big strength of theirs against Aston Villa when we highlighted Tonali, Bruno and Joelinton. For 90 minutes, it didn’t work today. That’s probably what they’re going to be looking at during the next two weeks because they’ve got three winnable games next. They’ve got to get back on track.

“No panic. No huge criticism. They got beat and deservedly so.”

For the first time since the takeover, Newcastle are going through a rough patch and questions are being raised, so how we react in the next few games will be key. 

Improvements all over the pitch are needed and hopefully, with the schedule becoming kinder, results will soon start to improve, starting with Brentford at home.