'Lazy' Jan Paul van Hecke torn to shreds as Alan Shearer spots Tottenham defender failures on MOTD

Jan Paul van Hecke's late goal won't gloss over his rotten performance in Tottenham Hotspur's 3-2 loss to Aston Villa on Saturday.

Although it looked like a narrow defeat for Spurs, who finally scored their first Premier League goals of the season at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium this weekend, it was a ridiculously poor display by a side that looks destined to fight relegation again.

Johan Manzambi, Nicolas Jackson and Emi Buendia all scored for Villa to put them 3-0 up at Tottenham, before late goals from Conor Gallagher and van Hecke stopped the goal difference from taking a battering.

Van Hecke's goal, however, didn't even manage to distract from what was a rotten display by the defender, who Spurs paid £52million to pry away from Brighton in the summer transfer window.

After impressing over the last few seasons at the AMEX, Spurs fans thought they were signing a top-class, proven Premier League centre-back when they landed the Netherlands international.

However, his display against Villa proves that's not the case and Roberto De Zerbi has his work cut out to try and improve him over the international break.

The stats behind Jan Paul van Hecke's shocker vs Aston Villa

Van Hecke was run ragged by Aston Villa's attackers throughout the 90 minutes on Saturday.

Jackson, in particular, gave the Dutchman a hard time, while defensive partner Micky van de Ven did little to help out matters.

According to stats by Sofascore, van Hecke failed to win any of the three tackles he challenged for against Villa and was dribbled past three times.

He contended two aerial duels, winning none, and out of his seven ground duels, he only came out on top in three of them.

On the ball, his 87 per cent pass accuracy was underwhelming, although he did somehow manage to create one big chance and complete two key passes.

However, van Hecke is a defender - what use is he if he can't defend? He's not there to be the playmaker - and that highlights another area of concern in Tottenham's squad if a centre-back is being relied upon to carve openings.

It wasn't just the stats that showed how badly van Hecke performed defensively, though, with Alan Shearer also ripping into him on Match of the Day.

What Alan Shearer said about van Hecke's performance on Match of the Day

When raving about Jackson's performance up front for Aston Villa, Shearer took time to highlight van Hecke's defensive shortcomings.

"I loved his performance, he gave those two centre-halves a torrid afternoon," said Shearer when talking about Jackson on Match of the Day on Saturday night. "He battered them with both his physicality and mentally, running in behind. He was just too good for them, they couldn't cope.

"I love this, the aggression. So many times he found himself in that position just in between the two centre-halves, van de Ven and van Hecke.

"They couldn't live with him... he turns van Hecke far, far too easily.

"As soon as that ball goes backwards, he's away and he's running, and he's running with the ball.

"Again, a lazy tackle from van Hecke."

After showing a second-half highlight of Jackson cruising past van Hecke, who missed a tackle, Shearer added: "Look, that's lazy defending - really lazy defending.

"Van de Ven is slow out there as well, [Jackson] cuts inside, there are three or four back and he gets his shot away again.

"I've said his best - Tottenham's worst - for last. Look at how aggressive he is.

"Say what you want about the two centre-halves but I mean, that's weak. Look at how far he's travelled and not one centre-half has challenged him."

"If you think there's been a lack of effort from van Hecke, look at van de Ven as well because that's not good enough."

When you're down at the wrong end of the table and without a win, the last thing you want to be called is "lazy".

Yet, van Hecke was called that repeatedly - and justifiably - by Shearer.

Spurs now have a three-week break before their next game, which is against Manchester United at Old Trafford on 10 October.

De Zerbi can't stop a player from being lazy on the training ground; it's down to van Hecke to look at himself in the mirror and remind himself of why he earned this move to Tottenham.

No one at Spurs will be accepting that the Dutchman has done the hard work already by simply joining the North London club.