Lacklustre Newcastle United handed taste of their own medicine as Aston Villa run rampant

Newcastle United were thoroughly beaten by Aston Villa on Saturday evening as the Magpies' three games in a week took its toll on Jason Tindall's ageing warriors.

It was a stark reminder ahead of another season in European competition that this squad simply isn't capable of sustaining competition on four fronts when three-game weeks are in play.

The lack of legs down Newcastle's right hand side proved to be an achilles heel for Newcastle as Villa exposed the frailties down that flank over and over again.

Villa took the lead within the first two minutes via a deflected Ollie Watkins strike, and while Fabian Schar pulled one back for Newcastle on 18 minutes, it was about the only time the Villa goal was threatened.

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Aston Villa just had too much for Newcastle United today

Newcastle threatened to wake up at the start of the second half, but soon Villa got their foot back in the game and placed it firmly on Newcastle's neck.

Ian Maatsen made it 2-1 on 64 minutes, and then they never looked back, giving Newcastle no time to settle on the ball or create anything even resembling an attack.

Dan Burn bundled the ball into his own net on 73 minutes, and just two minutes later, Amadou Onana rounded off the scoring, making it 4-1.

We will put this one behind us and move on

Newcastle weren't helped at all by an absolutely woeful Jarred Gillett as the referee showed absolutely no consistency with his decision making.

The red mist was rising as the full-time whistle drew closer, seeing that horrendous scoreline and the abysmal performance that went with it, but taking everything into account, we can't complain too much.

Our squad is simply not equipped for weeks like this, and we have just come off the back of six consecutive wins. A week of rest is what we have now, and it's exactly what we need.

Ipswich are up next, and we should get back to winning ways next week at St James' Park. Let's just put this one behind us and move on.