Newcastle boss says there’s no need to panic

NEWCASTLE boss Bobby Robson yesterday launched a fightback after chairman Freddy Shepherd’s criticism of the under-achieving Magpies players.

An angry Shepherd hit out following the team's 1-0 defeat by Blackburn at St James' Park on Sunday, which capped a disappointing Christmas programme.

Newcastle head into 2004 lying seventh in the Premiership table after 19 games, 20 points adrift of leaders Manchester United and, perhaps more worryingly, six points worse off than they were at the same point last season and 13 shy of the mark they had set 12 months earlier.