Newcastle boss Eddie Howe dismisses critics of his side after Alan Shearer said they were ‘all over the place’ in defeat by Brighton… as he claims he’s ‘immune’ to their opinions

Eddie Howe has sent a strong message to any critics, insisting he is ‘immune’ to their opinions and no one needs to tell him if he or his Newcastle team have underperformed.

The Magpies have lost their last three games and supporters and pundits were particularly critical after the most recent 3-1 defeat at Brighton.

Club legend Alan Shearer said: ‘Apart from Callum Wilson, Newcastle were very poor in all departments. A tough start to the season, I know, but they were everywhere.”

There was a general feeling that this was the worst performance of Howe’s tenure, despite the head coach having plenty of goodwill on the bench and taking his side away to Milan in the Champions League on Tuesday.

However, there has been a lot of fuss surrounding Newcastle following a difficult start to the season, and Howe was asked about that ahead of Saturday’s visit to Brentford.

Club legend Alan Shearer was among those to criticize Newcastle after their loss to Brighton

“I’m immune to it, so I don’t hear it,” he said. ‘To be honest, I just feel my emotions – and my emotions are such that if we don’t win, I’m not very pleasant to be around. That’s my drive.

‘I don’t need anyone else to tell me anything about the team. My drive is so high. My standards are so high that I expect to win every match and I want to win every match. If we don’t do that, I’ll be disappointed in myself and I won’t need anyone else to tell me anything.”

It was a strong response in terms of perceived criticism, and he added: “I criticize myself. I don’t listen to people who criticize me, so I’m immune to that.’

Newcastle have gone from second to fourth under Howe’s leadership and he was rewarded with an improved long-term contract at the start of last season.

They are currently fourteenth after losses to Manchester City, Liverpool and Brighton, but Howe said: ‘You have to be calm and try to make the right decisions, that you see things as they are, and not what people are trying to create .

‘That’s why I keep harping on this point, it hasn’t all been bad. Yes, the results of the last three games weren’t what we wanted, but there were some really good things in the performances that we can’t lose.

‘If you do that, you’re starting from scratch again. We have built the team so that we have been consistent last year and throughout the season. Although there were some dips along the way, we remained strong and we will have to show that again this year. The challenge this year is completely different to last year, so hopefully we can show the qualities we need to come back.”

Newcastle impressed last season, but have already lost three league games this season