Shearer shrugs off Chelsea setback

Alan Shearer insists he can still lead relegation-threatened Newcastle United to Premier League safety despite tasting defeat in his first match in charge.

Impressive Chelsea kept up their title challenge with a comfortable 2-0 victory at St James’ Park thanks to second-half goals from Frank Lampard and Florent Malouda.

It ensured the party atmosphere to mark the new manager’s arrival soon fell flat in front of a rare capacity crowd on Tyneside, and it leaves the rookie boss with just seven games to rescue his hometown club from sliding into the Championship for the first time in 20 years.

Shearer is determined to remain upbeat despite the visitors cruising to a fully deserved victory, which keeps the pressure on Manchester United and Liverpool at the top of the table.

The 38-year-old’s focus is at the other end of affairs, with third-bottom Newcastle three points adrift of safety ahead of Saturday’s crunch trip to fellow strugglers Stoke City.

Newcastle also face daunting trips to Liverpool and Aston Villa before the end of the season, and the manager added: “If I could wind it back I’d like to start again. It was always going to be a very hard task, and it still is but I remain optimistic. I’m trying to pick out positives but we have to get some confidence back into the players.”

Other results conspired against Newcastle, who have won just once in their last 15 games.

Their most recent home victory came in December, and Shearer insisted: “There are going to be twists and turns before the end of the season. We’re in a fight and that’s what we’ll continue to do.”

Shearer had his squad straight back in for training on Sunday morning in a bid to stamp out the careless mistakes that are costing them dear, and he added: “We’ve got seven games left and we have to make the most of this week ahead to prepare for our next game. We need to stop conceding silly goals.

“We more than contained Chelsea in the first half without being a threat ourselves. Effort-wise I’ve no complaints but we needed a bit more quality and I’m sure we’ll step that up.”

Two goals in nine second-half minutes sealed an easy win for Chelsea. Michael Owen had a late deflected effort cleared off the line by Ashley Cole – TV replays suggested the ball was in – but Shearer refused to use that as an excuse after conceding his side were largely second best.

Chelsea manager Guus Hiddink had words of consolation for his opposite number, and the Dutchman backed Shearer to lead Newcastle to safety.

He said: “I’m sure in spite of the defeat today Newcastle will recover. They showed some good things and that’s a foundation for gathering points in the future.”

Hiddink insists Chelsea are in the kind of form to maintain the pressure on their title rivals to ensure a tense finale to the campaign, and he added: “Until it’s over we’ll keep on fighting but it makes us regret dropping those points against Tottenham in our previous match even more.

“We’ll try to pressure the other clubs around us. To do that we have to keep winning and we have a few home games coming up now so we’ll see what happens.”