‘Lazy’ - Newcastle United star called out by Alan Shearer and ex-Man United man after Brighton

Newcastle United’s big-money signing Sandro Tonali has been called out for his performance against Brighton. The Magpies were handed another reality check over the weekend, falling to a heavy defeat to Brighton away from home, although Callum Wilson’s late strike did help make the score-line look a little kinder.

Newcastle defended very poorly on the South coast, and the defeat made it back-to-back losses for Eddie Howe’s men, who made the trip to Brighton on the back of a home defeat to 10-man Liverpool. Very few put in good performances against Brighton, but some were worse than others, as highlighted by pundits after the game.

Speaking to Premier League Productions, Alan Shearer said: “From Newcastle’s point of view, there were so many errors leading up to the goal there. There is the first one, it has got to go. It’s so sloppy from Nick Pope. Then it’s Trippier diving in. Then, another mistake from Tonali and it was lazy on his part not to close it down, then another big error from Nick Pope. What’s that? Four errors leading up to the goal?”

Former Manchester United midfielder Owen Hargreaves also had his say on Newcastle’s defending, and he doubled down on Shearer’s criticism of pricey summer signing Tonali.

“I know what Sir Alex would have said to me. I wouldn’t have played for a month if I did that,” said the former midfielder. It’s quite simple really, you have to make clean contact – just clear your lines.”

Newcastle now have two long weeks to mull over their consecutive defeats ahead of returning to action against Brentford. Then comes the Champions League clash with AC Milan when Howe’s defensive problems are likely to be put to a very big test. The Magpies will hope to have some of their early-season issues ironed out by that point.