Source: SKY_Sports
Shearer - Magpies can survive
Alan Shearer remains confident Newcastle will avoid Premier League relegation, despite beginning his managerial tenure with a defeat to Chelsea at St James' Park. The former Magpies captain has replaced Joe Kinnear, who is recovering from heart surgery, on an eight-game basis as his hometown club battle the drop.Newcastle - who sit in 18th position, three points from safety as a result of the defeat - hope the appointment of Shearer will produce a much-needed boost in the fight to stay in top flight.But a header from the superb Frank Lampard and a second goal from Florent Malouda ensured the ex-England star started with a setback after taking up his role on Wednesday.Shearer, though, remains upbeat, telling Sky Sports: "There were plenty of positives, one or two negatives as well, but there were plenty of positives from the game."Effort-wise, no problem. We have got another six or seven days to work with them now.Response"The response from the players over the past two or three days has been great, but there is a lot of hard work to be done."We haven't got a lot of time, we know that. But I think we will get there."An error from centre-back Fabricio Coloccini, who hesitated in possession, allowed Lampard to open the scoring in the second half and Shearer recognises the incident was decisive. "A mistake in the second half has cost us," he added."When you go 1-0 down to a team like Chelsea, you are reluctant to try and change it too much and open it up because of the quality they possess.Fault"You are always liable to the counter-attack and that is what happened (for the second goal)."Shearer also confirmed that winger Peter Lovenkrands is in a stable condition after leaving the stadium by ambulance at half-time following an accidental elbow to the ribs from Chelsea's Florent Malouda."He was struggling to breathe. He was taken to hospital as a precaution. They tell me he is stable," he explained.Shearer, Newcastle's record goalscorer, also refuses to blame referee Rob Styles for failing to spot that Ashley Cole cleared a Michael Owen effort from behind the line with 15 minutes remaining, which could have set up a grandstand conclusion."I could quite clearly see from where I was standing that it was in. No, I couldn't really, I'm just getting into the manager's clich? he joked."I think TV replays show it was in. It might have given us a rousing last five or ten minutes. But it is all ifs and buts. We get on with it. It is not his fault we lost."