Alan Shearer suggests the reason why Newcastle star Anthony Gordon struggled so much against Brighton

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Newcastle United’s forwards failed to deliver against Brighton, and that includes Anthony Gordon.

The Magpies simply could not score on Saturday. As the cliché goes, they could have been at St James’ Park all night and still not found the back of the net.

Alexander Isak will be disappointed to pass up so many chances, but he was not the only Newcastle United player guilty of leaving his shooting boots at home.

The same could be said of Anthony Gordon, who missed the chance to equalise late in the second half. The 23-year-old had been played through on goal by Fabian Schar, only for Gordon to tamely direct his effort into the gloves of Bart Verbruggen.

It was a disappointing afternoon for Gordon, in what was his first Toon game after his penalty miss against Everton.

• READ MORE: Who is Anthony Gordon? Age, height, career, position, girlfriend

Alan Shearer raises Anthony Gordon concern

And Newcastle United legend Alan Shearer believes that penalty miss could be the reason why Gordon struggled so much against Brighton.

Following the 1-0 loss, Shearer spoke to The Rest Is Football podcast about Newcastle’s issues in front of goal.

“I think certainly for half an hour it’s maybe as good as they’ve played all season,” he said.

“It might have been different had they put that chance that Isak had [away], because 90 seconds later Welbeck puts his chance away. You know what it’s like, goals change games.

“Anyway, he [Isak] he didn’t put it in and then Brighton went on and hung on to get a great result.

“Newcastle have been really poor in forward positions. One of the reasons why they wanted to bring another forward, a right-sided forward, was because of that.

“Wilson hasn’t played. Isak has been injured. Gordon has had to play centre-forward. He missed the penalty at Everton. That probably affected his confidence because he missed another couple of big changes [against Brighton].”

• READ MORE: Who is Alan Shearer? Stats, Height, Wife, Daughter, Net Worth

Newcastle’s forward line is short of confidence

Gordon did look short of confidence on Saturday. It was one of those games where most things he tried did not come off.

And when he did produce something magical, the Brighton goalkeeper was on hand to produce a stunning save to deny Gordon from distance.

Gordon’s struggles came on the same day that Alexander Isak failed to spark Newcastle United into life. Meanwhile, Jacob Murphy produced a really disappointing display on the right.

That sums up Newcastle’s attacking issues, without even mentioning top scorer Harvey Barnes. He is struggling to get in the team, with Eddie Howe reluctant to play Gordon on the right.

Newcastle’s attack is not clicking into gear, and it is seriously hindering Eddie Howe’s side. Scoring goals has been a real issue this season, and it is something that the Newcastle United manager needs to rectify as soon as possible.