Aston Villa v Newcastle United Post-Match Thread

[The Left Side]

Phhheewww, thank god that Newcastle didn't turn up until the last 10 minutes, Petrov and Friedel were just what we needed, all that matters is the 3 points oh and Barton is a twat.

[WikiVilla]

Bent did what he was paid to !
Great goal wrongfully disallowed

[Tokyo Sexwhale]

THANK THE LORD GOD OF FUCK!

(and Newcastle's injuries and suspensions).

[Des Little]

Haven't read all of the thread so apologies if it's been said but I thought Stan was superb today.  Fantastic performance.

[Bad English]

Howay! 6-1 on aggregate, eh? And how many of the 6 available points did you take you daft flab fetishists?

[villa-love]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/eng_prem/9446263.stm

Pardew's comments on Ash Young do make me laugh.

[The Left Side]

Glenn Roeder was there too, I wonder who he was scouting.

[gervilla]

What do others make of Makoun?

I would still feel more comfortable having NRC playing than Makoun.
Still think he needs a little time to adjust to the league.

I'd rather he was given time to adjust after we have secured our Premier League status... I thought he was very lightweight today. He needs to bulk up a bit and improve his passing. NRC and Petrov should get the not for West Ham.

Shaky first 10mins but after that he settled down and did alright, I agree though with more time he will be  good player for us.

I thought he was aweful today. He does have a good first time pass on him but he gave the ball away too many times today, got muscled out of it too easily a few times and doesn't exert enough influence on the game. Dissapointing performance from him today. He could have been subbed earlier.

[JJ-AV]

What did their banner say at the end of the game by the way? Couldn't see it from the Holte.

[eamonn]

God, we don't make things easy for ourselves do we? If we were a bit more confidence and better-organised I think we could have handed the Barcodes a spanking today. As it was, the last few minutes had nerves fraught. I held my breath as Lovenkrands rose for that header.  A bit more to the corner and that would have been another two costly two points dropped at the death.

 I think Luke Young deserves some praise. Playing out of position, as in fairness he often has for us, the bloke covered a huge amount of ground on our left. Bearing in mind we didn't really have a left sided midfielder, Ashley Young generally roaming and Gabby more central, Luke had a lot of running to do but made himself available for the overlap as much as he could.

I thought Petrov's calmness and quality on the ball was very important. Equally so where he got stuck in and won a fair few tackles. Walker was a bit shaky and Cuellar coming on was a good move as we had a fair bit to deal with in the closing stages.

Criticism for Makoun is over the top. You can tell he's a cultured player, he just needs to be a bit more savvy with possession - ironically it's when he has time he often gives it away, but his first time passing is very good. Also, that slide-through for Bent's incorecctly disallowed goal and a similar pass he made for Ash to hit the bar against Wolves are the type of defence-splitting passes that I don't think NRC or Petrov have ever made with us. He definitely adds something but it will probably take a pre-season before we see his best.

Speaking of over the top criticism I know he plays for the opposition but I've seen bits and pieces of Ranger in other games to suggest he could be a decent player. It's not like we write off our young lads on the basis of one average performance. Well, actually, maybe some of us do... Dunne's experience was important against him as he didn't allow himself to be caught in a race with Ranger who would have left him for dead.

And special mention to the all-important moment. A beauty of a header by Collins. Knew what he was doing and as always with those glanced-angled headers, you need a bit of luck. Great goal and a huge 3 points for us.

[martyn ellis]

I really don't understand all the sniping at Makoun. I and the people either side of me all agreed he had a decent game. He's one of the few in the team who knows where he is going to pass the ball before he receives it. I think he will be a big plus for us next season.

[damon loves JT]

I don't think I've ever seen a post-match thread like this after Villa have won.

[l_mckay]

3points thats all that matters!!!!

[Dave]

Bent's goal was offside. Not by much, but it was.

If any part of your body that can score a goal is ahead of the last defender then you're off - Bent's leg was beyond the last defender.

Tight, but undoubtedly the correct decision.

[damon loves JT]

If you are going to use the bloody awful phrase 'must-win game' then you can't bloody moan when we win.

Either it's a must win or it isn't, logic fans.