Alan Shearer delivers damning verdict on Newcastle’s performance vs Aston Villa

Despite winning 20 out of our last 25 games, immediate reaction to our loss against Aston Villa on Saturday has been that Newcastle still have serious work to do if we want to qualify for the Champions League next season.

Whilst we still 3rd in the table, the loss against 6th place Villa leaves the gap between the teams at just  two points, with Man City now sneaking into 4th place and Nottingham Forest still to play their 33rd game.

And Alan Shearer has now delivered his verdict on the defeat, with he and other pundits seemingly all in agreement.

“Should have been a lot more” - Shearer

Posting on X, Shearer gave his immediate thoughts on the game and the gulf in quality between  the two teams on the day.

“Well done Villa. Much the better team today. Scored 4 and should have been a lot more.”

Shearer round off his post with a simple statement that Saturday was just a “Bad day at the office for the Toon.”

And our record goalscorer wasn’t the only one who felt that we massively underperformed on Saturday. Speaking on Match of the Day, guest Dion Dublin highlighted how we failed to prepare to the same level of Unai Emery’s side.

“Villa have done their homework. Newcastle weren’t at it. Villa knew exactly what to do, and they really executed it well.”

Five cup finals to go, what’s to fix?

Next weekend’s game at Ipswich, despite being relatively simple on paper considering the gulf in quality between ourselves and the Tractor Boys, needs to be a real statement of intent from the squad.

With back-to-back wins against us and PSG, Villa will feel that they can capitalise on that momentum and beat Manchester City and usurp as the definitive ‘favourite’ to qualify for the UCL.

A convincing win at St James’ Park is essential to settle any nerves the fans and players may have.  Whilst also reminding both pundits and the teams around us that when it comes to the final few games of the season, we’ve been amongst the very best in terms of performance over the last two seasons.