Alan Shearer reveals what ‘slightly concerned’ him about Newcastle United v Liverpool & Brighton

Newcastle United legend Alan Shearer believes Eddie Howe will focus most on improving the midfield area during the international break after struggling against Liverpool and Brighton and Hove Albion.

Having beaten Aston Villa 5-1 on the opening day of the season, the Magpies have suffered three consecutive Premier League defeats for the first time since April 2022 after losing to Manchester City, Liverpool and Brighton.

Shearer revealed his ‘slight concern’ at the way the midfield ‘folded’, first surrendering a 1-0 lead over 10-man Liverpool and then losing 3-1 to Brighton.

“There are concerns,” the Magpies legend told Premier League Productions. “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.”

Newcastle host Brentford at St James’ Park in their first game back after the international break.