Alan Shearer has already had an unfiltered rant at Sunday’s dismal display at West Ham, which we covered on Monday.
He called the showing “lazy”, “lethargic” and “rotten”, also questioning if our players sometimes allow their standards to drop on the road as they don’t have 52,000 fans pushing them to press, win tackles and be that bit more aggressive.
In a separate discussion, Shearer has now discussed Newcastle’s issues at the top end of the pitch, calling out Anthony Gordon in particular and our worrying lack of scorers.
Our former No.9 questions how Gordon can be so good in the Champions League, where has has four goals in three games, but fails to turn up in the Premier League, where he’s not managed a single goal or assist all season.
The same applies to Harvey Barnes and Anthony Elanga – they too have failed to contribute once in the league – but Shearer feels the team as a whole needs to chip in with more.
He highlights the fact only FOUR players have scored in the Premier League so far, with Nick Woltemade (4), Bruno Guimaraes (3), Jacob Murphy (2) and Will Osula (1) the only Mags to contribute so far.
Speaking on the Rest Is Football podcast about Newcastle’s current issues, he said:
“They’ve got to get players into goal scoring positions, because there’s only four of them scored league goals at this moment in time,”
“Anthony Gordon’s been really good in the Champions League, hasn’t done it in the league yet.
“There’s a few like that as well. So they’ve got to get back to being tough and back to basics, what made them successful.”
There are other fundamental issues at present, whether it’s our struggles at full-back without Lewis Hall and Tino Livramento, Howe’s battle to integrate new signings and Joelinton’s lack of technical ability in midfield.
However, one huge issue is the lack of end product from our wingers, with Gordon’s inability to deliver in league games a massive headscratcher.