‘Unacceptable’ - Alan Shearer strong on ‘terrible’ Newcastle United and Matthias Jaissle 'reality check'
Newcastle United suffered their first setback of the season with a 4-1 defeat at Elland Road.
Alan Shearer still expects Newcastle United to finish anywhere between 10th and 15th this season.
Like every Toon fan, the club’s all-time leading goalscorer was let down by what he described as a “terrible” performance at Elland Road. Leeds United battered the Magpies 4-1 to end the unbeaten start to the campaign.
To make matters worse, Newcastle suffered setbacks to Anthony Elanga and Jacob Ramsey before a ball was kicked. Nico Gonzalez was also withdrawn with a head injury to cap off a miserable night in West Yorkshire.
‘Bumps in the road’ - Alan Shearer
Speaking to Betfair, Toon icon Shearer insisted the Leeds humbling was a “reality check” while reiterating that a tough season lies ahead. He said: “Newcastle had a really promising start to the season, unbeaten before Monday's game, and it was a reality check against Leeds. But I haven't changed my mind one bit on Newcastle, though.
“I knew we would have these moments. Clearly, you can't have too many of them because the performance the other night was unacceptable, terrible. They were outfought and bullied, so you can't have too many of them in the season.
“But I did expect bumps in the road this season, and that was one of them. I still say we will finish anywhere between 10th and 15th.”
How Matthias Jaissle reacted
Jaissle is understood to have lost his temper in the visiting dressing room - letting the players know exactly how he feels. The German composed himself to give a more measured take in his post-match press conference.
"That was a tough match, a tough evening,” Jaissle said. “We said beforehand this season would be with many challenges and tonight we faced a big challenge. A tough night, we didn't wish to have that but we need to learn straight away and the good part is we play at home on Saturday and we need to show the right reaction straight away.
"We are all in the same boat, I don't want to blame anyone. In the Premier League you need to bring the fundamentals on to the pitch, the physicality. If the opponent is showing that and if you can't match this physicality then it's going to be difficult and that's something we learned today.
"I don't want to search for excuses. We know with a young squad if something goes wrong you need to find the right reaction on the pitch and we were not able to do that."