Alan Shearer questions Newcastle’s attitude and rips into them for being ‘dreadful defensively’ in damning verdict after Eddie Howe’s side slumped to defeat at Brentford

Alan Shearer gave a scathing assessment of Newcastle’s 4-2 defeat to Brentford, labeling the players ‘defensively terrible’ and questioning their attitude.

Eddie Howe’s side are without a win in their last four games after slumping to their fifth league defeat of the season at the Gtech Community Stadium on Saturday.

Goals from Alexander Isak and Harvey Barnes saw them twice come from behind to draw level, but a limp second-half performance left Shearer fuming.

Nathan Collins got past Nick Pope to restore the Bees’ lead just before the hour mark, while Kevin Schade took all three points in the 90th minute.

“I don’t like the attitude of several of the Newcastle players,” Shearer said during his post-match analysis of each goal on Match of the Day.

‘You can’t just play in the big home games, they drew with Liverpool, they drew [Manchester] City, they beat Spurs, they beat Chelsea, they beat Arsenal.

Eddie Howe’s side are twelfth in the Premier League and have not recorded a win in their last four games

Shearer questioned the Magpies’ attitude and branded their defense ‘terrible’

‘They were terrible defensively, Thiago is too strong and bullies Fabian Schar. I’m looking at Lewis Hall with his hands behind his back, he’s not even in the box, how are you expected to twist and turn?

‘Harvey Barnes makes a mistake. Okay, it’s a really bad pass, but look at the defense. Fabian Schar has to join in at some point, he has to try to tackle him.

“Dan Burn is trying to come back, he’s yelling at him [Schar] push him on the outside, but he [Schar] never comes near him, he [Wissa] gets a free shot.

‘You have to tackle him at some point.

‘This is worrying because two years ago we were constantly praising Newcastle for their energy, for their closure, for their pressing, there was none of that.

‘No one gets within five yards of a Brentford player, now suddenly they’re in Newcastle’s final third, still no one within five, ten yards of anyone. That’s not good enough, that’s not acceptable, that’s why they were defeated today.”

Howe vowed to reverse Newcastle’s alarming decline in form, saying: ‘There was a willingness to win and a willingness to fight, but I don’t think it was strong enough.

‘I’m not making excuses, but I don’t know if the weather played a role because there was obviously a very strong wind today. I don’t know if that’s a coincidence, but we didn’t attack as well in the second half as we did in the first half.

‘I think today was a difficult match because of the conditions and if you try to increase the pace of the match you will of course get cold.

“I would like to thank everyone who came today and I am truly sorry for what we delivered. I promise we will always work as hard as we can to make things right.”