Alan Shearer on the big differences between Newcastle and Aston Villa

Saturday evening’s game put an end to a streak of six straight wins in all competitions, and the Mags’ performance left a lot to be desired.

But with a favourable home game against Ipswich on the horizon, Shearer has urged the lads to keep their heads up and focus on the task ahead in qualifying for next season’s Champions League.

Speaking on The Rest Is Football podcast with Gary Lineker and Micah Richards, Shearer reflected more on our recent performance against Unai Emery’s Aston Villa, and the gulf between the two sides on the day.

“Everyone laughs when Newcastle get beat, it hasn’t happened for a while…”

“Villa were brilliant, they did to Newcastle what Newcastle have done to a few teams over the past couple of months. They just overpowered them.”

One common criticism of our transfer strategy in the last few windows has been the lack of depth added to our squad, whereas Villa in January alone brought in Marcus Rashford, Marco Asensio and Donyell Malen on big wages and transfer fees.

“They had more energy, the subs made a massive difference. And again you go back to recruitment.”

“They (Villa) played on Tuesday in the Champions League, Newcastle played on the Wednesday against Palace in the league, but Villa had far more energy.”

“They won every challenge, they were better in every position really, and Villa battered Newcastle. It should have been a few more. Absolutely outstanding.”

Even with the defeat, we remain one of the form teams in the Premier League, and are still many pundits’ pick to finish in the top five this season.

And Shearer believes that we can reinforce our status as a true contender for a Champions League spot with a positive mentality and performance against Ipswich.

“I think it was one of those days when Newcastle went in again with the same team, and you’ve got a dilemma haven’t you. If you change a winning team, and you get beaten, then people are like ‘Why the hell did you change the team?”

“The quicker Newcastle forget about that and move on, and I will say, if you have been battered like you have been, then you would want a home game as your next game against one of the teams who’ve had a terrible season.”

“Hopefully they’ll battle back because that battle at the top for Champions League places is incredible.”