Eddie Howe's 'careful' response to Alan Shearer Newcastle United criticism after defeat at Luton Town

Newcastle United were beaten 1-0 at Luton Town in the Premier League with Eddie Howe feeling his side 'needed more' at Kenilworth Road.

Former Newcastle winger Andros Townsend scored the only goal of the game as Luton picked up their third win and kept their first clean sheet of the season. The result saw The Magpies' poor away form continue as they remain with just one away win in the Premier League and have now lost their last four on the road in the top flight.

Reflecting on the match, Howe said: "Very disappointed with the performance today.

"I thought first-half especially we weren't where we needed to be. We knew this was going to be a very difficult game, we knew the whole day was going to be tough really because of the game and how Luton play - they're a strong team. And also the emotion of the game - I don't think we dealt with that well.

"Today's performance epitomised our away form because there were some really good bits but not enough. We didn't compete well enough in the first-half, I thought we were off on our duels and we were reactive rather than proactive. And that cost us the match."

Newcastle United legend Alan Shearer felt Luton deserved the win as they showed more 'desire, intensity and physicality' than Howe's side. "Well done Luton. Deserved the points," Shearer tweeted after the match.

But when asked if he felt Luton's players showed more desire than his own, Howe told The Gazette: "I think I've got to choose my words carefully. We have an incredible group and I was disappointed with the first half performance, I thought we needed more, we needed more emotion in our performance, more energy in our performance.

"I'm not going to say any more than that really but I think the players felt that as well. We were well aware we were below our levels but second half was a lot better and we couldn't force the goal we needed and the mistake in the first half has cost us the match."