Alan Shearer's Newcastle rant as alarming signs continue - "Terrible"

Alan Shearer has hit out at Newcastle's "terrible" display against Aston Villa on Saturday after our latest defeat ended with boos at St James' Park.

We arrived hoping to see a response to last Monday's 4-1 defeat to Coventry, but got anything but as we witnessed another display lacking in quality, cohesion or fight from Matthias Jaissle's side. 

Shearer slates "terrible" Toon 

Speaking to Gary Lineker and Micah Richards on the Rest Is Football podcast, Alan Shearer hasn't held back in his assessment of Saturday's defeat to Aston Villa.

Our former No.9 described the display as terrible, tepid, weak and worrying, claiming there was a "lack of everything" all over the pitch in his most damning verdict yet of this new-look Newcastle side.

"I look at their performance against Coventry and it was terrible and I was thinking what response have we got? At home, St James' Park against Villa and it was nothing. 

"They didn't create. They had one shot on target and it was Botman and it was in the second half and other than that, no creativity, no one with that killer pass, we were terrible.

"We were really, really bad. I did say it was going to be a yo-yo season and I did have them finishing 13th or 14th and I still think that will be the case."

"There was just no response from that really poor performance at Coventry. I was expecting a lot more. It was really weak, tepid, and there was nothing to that performance that you can come away and think 'we were all right there'. We were terrible.

"I said to you that we didn't create anything which was worrying but the way teams can play through Newcastle, because if you beat that press with a front six, there are such huge holes in the middle."

"It was concerning, definitely. Those two performances would really worry me. There was a lack of everything, they don't look solid and I was missing that killer pass.

The 'lack of everything' comment is perhaps the most alarming, but sadly accurate based on what we served up on Saturday.

One shot on target, a total lack of quality, no cohesion at either end of the pitch, a lack of fight, a lack of physicality, weak pressing and tactical issues all over the field as our midfield looked unbalanced once again.

Steur snub surprises Shearer 

On the subject of midfielders, Shearer also shared his thoughts on Sean Steur being left on the bench once again.

As he points out, the young Dutchman "could play that killer pass" at a time we were crying out for a moment of quality, but wasn't brought on by Jaissle for the second game in a row.

"I said to you about the youngster Sean Steur, who could play that killer pass. He (Jaissle) chose not to bring him on and it was a worrying performance on Saturday."

Steur is still young with plenty to learn, yet it's already clear that he is one of our more technically gifted players. He ran the show in that superb first-half display against Hull before the international break, and we lost all control of that match when he was forced off in the second half.

The fact he hasn't played a minute since then is a real head-scratcher.