Aston Villa v Newcastle United Post-Match Thread

[OzVilla]

Well i've just watched the game and it was a stonewall penalty.  You can't barge into an player, while not even going for the ball and push the player over - whether the fall looked theatrical (which I honestly didn't think it did anyway) is irrelevent - it was a foul.  To be honest, the Referee looked poor all game.

Thought we did well overall, we arn't a particularly fluid side but we dug deep and Petrov and Downing played weel, Collins did what he needed to, Gabby worked hard and Bent looked a constant goal threat.

Newcastle were just the sort of team we needed to be playing by the looks of things, quite satisfied with their season and quietly winding down.

[not3bad]

To be honest, the Referee looked poor all game.

I found the referee very annoying.  He was especially poor at judging goal kicks/corners and on at least two occasions he awarded Newcastle a goal kick in the second half when it was blindingly obvious to all present it was a corner.

[villasjf]

Those bells? I was expecting Quasimodo to be seen swinging from the rafters in the Holte End. Then at the end was expecting loads of confetti when they played what I thought was wedding bells. Pires MOTM for managing to look like a clown in the few minutes he was on the pitch. lol 

[Percy McCarthy]

Whilst I wouldn't have put it in quite such extreme terms, I can't help thinking BCV has got something right with his comment about how we'd treat him if he wasn't "one of us".

I think I'd quite like a striker who'd scored for us at Anfield, Old Trafford, Stamford Bridge and The Emirates and had hit double figures in each of his first three seasons even if he was a Small Heath fan. I mean, how many have we had who could boast such a record?

But if said player had had the season Gabby has had many on this forum would be up in arms and there would be comments along the lines of, "Fuck him off, he's finished" "Obviously doesn't want to play for us any more" "Off in the summer, good riddance, swap him for Crouch",

See Young, Ashley.

I think there's every chance we'd be saying that about Gabby if, instead of signing a long-contract this season, he'd refused talks in order to ...erm...'concentrate on his football'.

[pooligan]

Awful game to watch but we won ,all the other games except the baggies went our way so not a bad weekend at all !

[glasses]

3 much need points in the bag, clean sheet, looked like a decent atmosphere as well.

Downside, Joey 'thrush' Barton, an irritating c**t.

Maybe so, but I think he'd be the perfect midfield partner for Makoun & Delph.

I would never want that disgusting thug in a Villa shirt thanks.

[Dave]

I thought that it was both offside and the wrong decision to call it offside.

The lines in the grass show that Bent's foot is nearer the goal than the defender's nearest ball-legal anatomy. From the TV replays, that screen shot is about right for when Makoun made the pass.

However, it's not Simon Taufel calling a LBW. An AR can't possibly spot a foot 15cm closer to goal when players are moving in opposite directions and there are three things to watch. A better call would have been to give the benefit to the attacker. But I thought it technically correct all the same.

Nicely phrased and I'd agree with all of that.

[Villa'Zawg]

The photo isn't helpful because it shows that he is offside.

Apparently.

But the ball - is this right? is the little white blob between Darren and the goal.  He's clearly moving after it, hence the goalward right leg moving beyond the defender, on his way to chase it.
Where was that leg when Makoun actually played the ball?   (in relation to the defender's position, apart from, 'attached to Darren Bent'.)

The linesman thought it was already past the defender.  Without the photo of the ball on the end of Makoun's boot and Bent's position then it's not clear.

And we WON!!!!

The little white blob between Darren and the goal is the penalty spot, the ball in that photo is on the end of Makoun's boot. :-0

"In the context of Law 11 – Offside, the following definitions apply:
• “nearer to his opponents’ goal line” means that any part of a player’s
head, body or feet is nearer to his opponents’ goal line than both the
ball and the second-last opponent. The arms are not included in this
definition" - The FA

[JJ-AV]

I love Gabby. He's never gonna be a world beater and I probably wouldn't have him as an automatic first choice anymore - but does anyone want him playing elsewhere?

[Merv]

Not me, not yet, at least. Gabby's got weak areas to his game but still plenty to offer us and I thought he played fairly well yesterday.

Just read through a lot of this thread - a fair few of the players are getting panned. Don't think many had great games but most of the team, for me, would have picked up 6s and 7s - we were steady and looked pretty comfortable.

Pick of the bunch I thought were the midfield two: Petrov and Makoun. I'd move Petrov on at the end of the season but yesterday he was calm, composed, used the ball well. Makoun looks very comfortable in possession too, and seems to be settling in to the side.

[astonvillan]

What, for Taylor's little shove on Bent? Come on, if it had happened to us we would have been calling the Barcoder a poof.
Nowt wrong with a bit of physical defending. Thank God, otherwise Dicky Dunne would be penalised every time the ball goes near our goal.

no attempt to play the ball, a step across and a shove straight into his chest. a clearer penalty you will not witness (unless you watched the blackpool game...!).

whether it was onside or offside, we were denied a stonewall penalty in the second half so i'm surprised no one seems to be mentioning that. motd2 failed to show it as well.

I think that the fact he went down far too easily really didn't help him. I wouldn't have given it either.

he can go down however he likes. if the foul's been committed, which it was, then it's a penalty. similar to the villa liverpool 0-0 where carragher tripped petrov. petrov went down like an arse, but that doesn't change the fact that it should have been given..

There seems to be some belief that if a player goes down it's either a foul or a dive. It is possible to be challenged fairly and fall over.

agreed. and i thought the same at the game as taylor ran to the referee asking for a card to be shown to darren. it just so happens that in this case it wasn't a fair challenge, and he didn't just fall over.

[Edvard Remberg]

Seen stories from Pardew and Ryan Taylor today, that they complain about Youngs dive for the foul...How could anyone call that a dive? Blatant foul from a thug - should have been booked for his protests.

Worst part is - that it will become a fact that it was a dive - because noone is saying otherwise. (what happend with getting facts into articles?)

[Merv]

Pardew was complaining after the game in his post-match interview. I thought he was pushing it a bit - talk about clutching at straws. Young went to go round Barton, Barton stuck his right leg out and tripped him; not the worst of fouls but certainly a foul. It was hardly a contentious decision.

[Rip Van We Go Again]

I love Gabby. He's never gonna be a world beater and I probably wouldn't have him as an automatic first choice anymore - but does anyone want him playing elsewhere?

I like him and want him to remain at Villa, but I still think, at the moment, that Heskey would be a better combination up front with Bent.

[ktvillan]

My first live game this season and the tension gave me a splitting headache.  Most important thing is 3 points.

Petrov, who I can't normally stand, was excellent and MOTM for me.

Defence much better than usual but there were still some glaringly bad moments that a better team would have exploited.  Walker is not  a great defender.

Makoun shows glimpses of brilliance but gave the ball away far too often.

Downing was poor, Friedel looked more solid and confident than he has been.

Gabby tries hard but he really is a limited footballer and Heskey would have been a better option.

Bent makes a lot of great runs to lose his marker that aren't spotted by his team mates and would score hatfuls if we had midfielders and strike partners with a bit more awareness and vison of what he's doing. Should have had a penalty and arguably a goal although I can see why the lino gave offside.

A Young continues to frustrate.  One top delivery for the goal, but the usual quota of crap corners, diving and petulance, plus some lazy stuff such as when he lost Barton for his free header early on.

Houllier continues to baffle with his selections and especially his substutions (surely Albrighton or Heskey would have been better options than Pires yesterday?).

The ref was poor and got some very clear decisions badly wrong. 

Crowd were very good considering the nervy atmosphere.

To summarise, thank fuck for that.