However, he is confident Newcastle have enough quality to get away from the danger zone in the Premier League.
The former Real Madrid, Liverpool and England star wants to see more from Aleksandar Mitrovic and Siem de Jong.
But feels the Magpies have the makings of a good team with Ayoze Perez and Gini Wijnaldum catching his eye this season.
The BT Sports pundit told the Chronicle: “I really like Ayoze Perez, he could turn into a really good player.
“I think he could go quite far in the game.
“We’re still waiting for Aleksandar Mitrovic to catch fire – I would like to see more from him.
“His temperament raises a few questions but he needs to start banging goals.
“Wijnaldum has done well, and you’d be expecting Siem de Jong to get goals or at least show what a good player he is. He’s been quiet so far.
“There are goals in the team but they are a little bit more spread out than years gone by.
“When you look back over the years you had Les Ferdinand, Alan Shearer or myself up there.
“Newcastle have had proven goalscorers, but now they don’t have that No 9 who will bang in 20 goals.
“Everybody is looking for that, but I think there are goals in the team.
“When I watch them play they are not a boring team to watch.
"They are entertaining to watch, but Newcastle fans are demanding and want more.
“They expect their team to be in the top half of the league.
“I don’t think they are far off and there are a lot more teams worse off.
“It’s frustrating. When you look at the team there’s nobody you look at and think he’s going to score double figures.
“They are probably lacking somebody who would bang in double figures consistently.
“There has been a lot of chances – the football hasn’t been too bad.
“In the last couple of seasons I feared for Newcastle and thought they could have gone down.
“I think it’s looking a lot better. There has been money spent so you’d expect a bit more quality.
“It does look a better squad compared to the last couple of seasons. As soon as they start converting chances things will look at lot rosier.”