WHEN Jamie Vardy drilled home the goal that enabled him to equal Ruud van Nistelrooy’s record for scoring in ten consecutive Premier League games, it was impossible not to think back to his days in non-league football.

In part, that is a reflection of just how far the 28-year-old has come in the three-and-a-half years since he was playing in the Conference with Fleetwood Town. It is also, however, an acknowledgment that his formative years with Stocksbridge Park Steels and Halifax Town were probably the last time he encountered an opposition as poor as Newcastle United.

Steve McClaren might have spent the last couple of weeks talking of “progress”, but this was a display that was every bit as bad as the ones that resulted in home defeats to Watford and Sheffield Wednesday earlier this season, and that was also reminiscent of a number of the embarrassments that blighted the second half of last season, including another 3-0 defeat to Leicester in May.

On that day, John Carver accused one of his players of getting himself sent off. McClaren wasn’t levelling the same accusation at the weekend, but in truth, Newcastle could have been reduced to nine men again and no one would have noticed, such was the ineffectiveness of those on the field.

Leicester, in fairness, were brilliant. Claudio Ranieri’s table-toppers have delivered the story of the season so far, and while it remains fanciful to think they could be challenging for the title come May, it is no longer a leap of faith to suggest they could be competing in the Champions League next season.

They occupy top spot on merit, and while Vardy will rightly hog the headlines thanks to his goalscoring heroics, the performances of Riyad Mahrez, who was a threat every time he got the ball on the right-hand side, and Danny Drinkwater, who controlled the midfield area with a calm authority, were every bit as impressive.

Yet the Foxes can hardly have imagined encountering such supine opposition. Individually, Newcastle were wretched, and collectively they were so far behind Leicester it was embarrassing.

Where to start in terms of an assessment of their deficiencies? Simple work rate, desire and commitment is probably as good a place as any, and for all that it is possible to debate tactics, selection and McClaren’s role in the current mess, it is pointless to dig too deep if Newcastle’s players are incapable of fulfilling even the most basic of requirements expected of a professional footballer.

Whereas Leicester’s players pressed their opponents at every opportunity, were eager to get on the ball and were constantly looking to make things happen, the Newcastle side stood by idly as the game went on around them.

There was no urgency, no spirit, no fight. This is a dressing room devoid of leaders or big personalities, and inhabited instead by a ragbag assortment of over-hyped players from overseas who appear to view a year or two on Tyneside as a necessary evil before they move on to bigger and better things.

There is no core to this team, no collective identity that appears at times of adversity. Instead, the moment things start going wrong, Newcastle collapse like a pack of cards.

McClaren described it as a “fragility”. Georginio Wijnaldum admitted his side had “too many individuals – we played as individuals so you don’t get the result, we must play more as a team”. Perhaps it is simply what you get if you stick blindly to a recruitment policy that has repeatedly had its failings exposed.

“The manager was mad,” added Wijnaldum. “We have had players who have had good games which we didn’t win, but this was disappointing. You can play games badly, we are human, but you must always work to get the result.”

Newcastle’s players didn’t work, and the lack of energy and appetite for the game was inexcusable. A chronic lack of quality was equally apparent, and is every bit as worrying given that the gap to the bottom three has shrunk to a point.

Aleksandar Mitrovic was probably the most disappointing of the home side’s players, and his desire to focus on petty running battles with his opponents rather than the demands of the game is becoming tiresome in the extreme.

Whereas Leonardo Ulloa led the Leicester line with a combination of intelligence and strength, Mitrovic won nothing in the air, failed to retain possession on the ground and sulked his way through 63 ineffective minutes before sprinting off as he was replaced by Papiss Cisse.

True, Robert Huth might have been sent off when he thrust a hand in Mitrovic’s face in the first half, but the Serb’s theatrical reaction to the push was laughable and smacked of a player who appears to have settled on a role of playing the victim.

“Mitrovic is part of a Serbia team that has had a bad time,” said McClaren. “That might have affected him but it is no excuse.

“That is what football is. Sometimes, it is not all fine weather and going your way. Sometimes, you have to roll your sleeves up, and this is a time when we have to do exactly that.”

In fairness to Mitrovic, he was hardly the only player to underperform. Florian Thauvin, a 19th-minute replacement for Cheick Tiote, was lightweight and disinterested. Having had their fingers burned with Hatem Ben Arfa and Remy Cabella, why on earth did Newcastle throw £12m at another French winger completely unsuited to the Premier League?

Wijnaldum was like a fish out of water when asked to play alongside Vurnon Anita in Tiote’s absence, and was no better when pushed further forward in the second half. His compatriot, Daryl Janmaat, was a liability, charging forward in a series of ill-advised attacks while completely neglecting the defensive responsibilities that should be his first concern.

Leicester should have been ahead before Vardy broke the deadlock, but the striker’s record-equalling goal was a thing of beauty as he timed his run perfectly before cutting inside Moussa Sissoko to drill home.

Newcastle’s defending for the second goal was laughable, with Janmaat wandering off aimlessly to leave Ulloa in at least four yards of space as he headed home Mahrez’s cross.

A third goal was no more than Leicester deserved, and it arrived in a fittingly comical fashion with seven minutes left. Rob Elliot saved from Danny Simpson, but while Shinji Okazaki initially missed his attempt at a header, he was still able to bundle the ball home from inside the six-yard box.