Source: Telegraph
Steven Taylor's fitness causing headaches at Newcastle
The England Under-21 captain is due to have a scan on an ankle problem on Tuesday after aggravated the injury in the 1-0 defeat at Tottenham last weekend.
It forced Taylor out of the White Hart Lane game at half-time and has put his chances of playing in the potentially pivotal game against Portsmouth at St James' Park next Monday in doubt.
"We felt Steven was ready to start and he'd had a good couple of days' training," Shearer said.
"But he's felt it again and we had to take him off at half-time. He'll have a scan on Tuesday so we'll know more then."
Meanwhile the club's Argentine midfielder Jonas Gutierrez has said Newcastle can avoid relegation, thanks to Shearer.
He said: "We want to lift ourselves from this position. There is still belief. That is important, we have to believe in ourselves because if we don't then it is impossible to do it."
Gutierrez has revealed how Shearer has been working on getting the mentality of players right.
"He tried to work with the heads of the players, to be positive and to think that we can do it," Gutierrez said. "This is very important for us.
We have to take this and do it against the five teams we'll play now.
"All the matches for us are going to be very difficult. No team is easy for anybody. We know that we have matches that are very important and that we have to take points."
