Alan Shearer has jumped to the defence of Eddie Howe – and pushed against calls for the Newcastle United head coach to lose his job.
The Magpies made it four Premier League games without a win, as they were beaten 3-2 by Brentford at St James’ Park. They have won just once in their last eight games in all competitions – a Champions League victory over PSV Eindhoven.
And the home crowd made their feelings known both at half time and full time on Tyneside, as boos were loud and clear, such is the disappointment at recent performances, stretching back well before this recent dip.
However, Premier League and NUFC top scorer Shearer does not think the pressure should be on Howe right now.
Instead Shearer has pointed the finger at the club’s summer signings – all of whom coincidentally were signed off by the head coach.
Alan Shearer says NUFC signings ‘not good enough’ – but Howe should NOT lose job
Speaking to the BBC, Shearer said: “Clearly things aren’t good enough currently, but for me Eddie Howe is not under pressure.
Advertisement
“The signings in the summer, apart from Malick Thiaw, have not been good enough and hit anything like top form. They simply haven’t justified the money that was spent on them as yet and that has hindered Howe.
“Like any manager, things need to get better and they need to turn a corner, but in terms of him losing his job, absolutely not.”
‘The game got away from us’ – Eddie Howe after NUFC defeat
Howe, speaking to Match of the Day, said: “A strange game because I think at 2-2 you think you’re going to go on and win it. The game got away from us with a really poor third goal, the construction of it we’re all out attack, which is fine in that moment of course. But we need to do it in control, and we weren’t in control of the transition well enough.”
Newcastle being easy to score against: “It’s been a massive problem in this last group of games, we all know if you defend well you’ve got a chance with our attacking players of scoring. We scored two today and we lost the game and got nothing from it which is hugely frustrating from our view point.”
Advertisement
Bruno Guimaraes back out on the pitch and penalty: “A big pressure moment and he responded with a really cool penalty. I thought he did well to get through the game considering he’s missed quite a chunk of training.”
Be the first to comment