Alan Shearer labels Newcastle United defending 'laughable' with intense week ahead at Benton

Newcastle United players are set for an intense week at the club's training ground after their capitulation at Brentford on Saturday.

The 4-2 defeat leaves Newcastle languishing in the bottom half of the table with the Carabao Cup now seen as something of a season saver for Eddie Howe's side. Defensively the Magpies went missing on Saturday with club legend Alan Shearer giving a candid assessment of their performance on Match of the Day on Saturday.

Shearer, speaking about the third goal, said: "From a Newcastle point of view, defensively they were all over the place. It worries me because they are lacking the energy that we are so used to seeing.

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"This is laughable (the third goal) a long ball from the goalkeeper from a free-kick, Fabian Schar is nowhere near the ball and a centre-half runs straight through, a long ball up."

Shearer is not the type of character to lay into Newcastle without valid concerns and it felt like a watershed moment on Saturday night as fans hung on the former striker's every word. His viewpoint will be ringing in the ears of players going into that clash against Leicester City next weekend.

Newcastle can't string two good halves of football together

In fairness, the Magpies looked more than capable of beating Brentford in the first half after a good offensive display. Granted they were poor at the back and made mistakes, but by the same token, United could easily have been 4-2 or 5-2 up!

It was something Howe was at pains to admit afterwards, he said: "A strange sequence for us, we had three consecutive wins against really good opponents, then we have had mixed performances. We have to get it over the line."

Eddie Howe will get time to turn things around for United

As was the case a few weeks ago when Newcastle went five Premier League games without a win, the club's board and PIF were happy to resolve the problems without making drastic changes. That was still the case last night as Chronicle Live sources stated there would be no knee-jerk reactions.

But a key month now lies ahead for Newcastle with progress in the Carabao Cup now clinical against Brentford while Premier League games against Leicester and Ipswich are now earmarked as vital wins to get the European chase back on track.