Newcastle United v Aston Villa Post-Match Thread

[villadelph]

Collymore via Twitter: "Couldn't believe how many Villa players were back chatting to McLeish through the game. Can't be very healthy.."

They're confidence in the manager seems to be dropping.

This is where some of the experienced players really are stinking the club out. Dunne is the perfect example, his half hearted attemp for the ball for their second goal and his last 30mins were a joke. He really looked like he wasn't bothered.

I'm sure he's bored of the tactics. With the exception of the second half against QPR, we are constantly on our back foot playing the defensive role. We cant retain any possession up top. The defense never gets a break or a possession stint that allows them to comfortably get involved whilst not having to resort back to Given.

HOOF!

[Rigadon]

If Ireland told AM to do one I'm glad he took him off.  If not it was a testicle drop.  Also, I got the impression AM instructed us to defend deeper second half which, when you consider our defensive capabilities (ie zero) is another mistake IMO.   

As for Heskey, he did OK when he came on but offers nothing / very little going forward.  Our best bet of not losing a game is going all out to win it and we can't do that effectively with him in the side for my money. 

Yet again, another 2 goals conceded and I can't remember Newcastle actually creating a chance.  Th 1st goal was a ricochet that coud've gone anywhere and the second, 99 times out of 100 would sail over the bar.

[Risso]

We have played far, far worse at Newcastle in the past.

Well, that's alright then.

[PaulWinch again]

I have nothing against Emile personally, but he should never play for us again and if we offer him a new deal I will be fuming.

[eastie]

Truly awful back four , I would rather see clark, cuellar , lichaj and Stevens get a run that see us throw silly goals away every week with the likes of dunne, Hutton, Warnock and Collins- until
 we totally overhaul the defence we will continue to drop stupid points like today,

[paul_e]

We've got Citeh next, where a draw would be a good result, but where I just can't see us containing their fwds

After that, 3 eminently winnable games (Wigan, Blackburn, Fulham) if we can get 7-9 points out of that, we'll be virtually safe on 35+ points. And make no mistake we do need to make sure we're safe given the run of games later on

I really think Gardner needs to get more minutes. I don't want to pile too much pressure on, he's missed 3 brilliant chances already, but he adds physicality, good composure and excellent running off the ball. Clark, after an excellent start, is looking out of form.

Is this with Clark that is getting to me, I genuinely think the problem is a coaching thing.  Clark when he came in was moving around the pitch well, offering himself for the pass and keeping things ticking over.  The last couple of games this has stopped happening, petrov doesn't do it either.

As for the comment that petrov played well, I'm really suprised anyone can think that about today.  He was knackered for most of the game and on top of that virtually every pass he plays causes the player receiving it to stop and turn back, the amount of times his passes were behind the man or underweighted was scary.  The first chance for Gardner, watch where the ball is when it gets to him, he had no choice but to try to dig out a chip shot because the pass was far too short for him to get a proper effort away.  There were 2-3 times when hutton was running down the right only for petrov to pass behind him so he had to come back and the ball ended up coming back to the defence.  He also played a couple of blind flicks back to dunne when he had time and space to control and look for a positive pass.  Add in his lack of movement and I genuinely think Petrov is the perfect example of everything we're doing wrong at the moment.

[Olof's Beard]

I do wish that people would call the game as they see it not based on past history and prejudices against players.  Heskey played well and contributed to us having much more of the ball thereafter.  N'Zogbia was repeatedly losing the ball in poor areas.  Yes, Heskey has had a poor Villa career but he certainly was nothing to do with the loss today.  In the 20 minutes of the second half when he was not on the pitch, we hardly strung two passes together.

The mistake McLeish made today was not withdrawing a struggling Clark for Gardner earlier in the game.

[TheSandman]

Collymore via Twitter: "Couldn't believe how many Villa players were back chatting to McLeish through the game. Can't be very healthy.."

They're confidence in the manager seems to be dropping.

This is where some of the experienced players really are stinking the club out. Dunne is the perfect example, his half hearted attemp for the ball for their second goal and his last 30mins were a joke. He really looked like he wasn't bothered.

I agree. I have had enough of the attitudes of overpaid shits like Warnock and Dunne. The sooner the likes of them fuck off out of our club the better.

[villadelph]

Can someone sum up McLeish's post-match interview when its on?

[timeoutbigbar]

As a youngster coming through the academy system here Gardner will get a lot of support.  Today he was poor when he came on and wasted two good chances.  As much as he deserves praise when he does well he isn't exempt from criticism when hes poor, and today I thought he was poor.

[taylorsworkrate]

I have nothing against Emile personally, but he should never play for us again and if we offer him a new deal I will be fuming.

Can't possibly happen.

Can it?

[caster troy]

I knew we would lose as soon as I saw Heskey coming on.

I'd rather keep him than McLeish come June though. At least Emile is injured most of the time, our manager is a continuous negative force.

[Rigadon]

Not sure you  can fault Warnocks commitment though TheZogman, he made some really brave challenges today.  He's just got no confidence whatsoever. 

[Nirog72]

Gardner in about 10 minutes showed us the future for the side if we can hang on to him. He is composed in possession, tackles well and looks to be positive. When he swept it wide for Bannan and then got on the cross it showed how little our other midfielders do on the attacking side (I know he missed two but he's got the confidence to try things at least) and how much potential he has.

I thought we were unlucky overall but need to be more clinical around the box (certainly the movement of our players could be a lot better, including Bent today).

Their two goals were one scrappy effort and one straight out of the top drawer. Could have done better defensively with both but I've seen us concede softer goals this season. Warnock I felt was substantially better today, if he could just cut the couple of howlers a game out of his play...

I truly didn't understand bringing Heskey on. I don't dislike him or think he's as shit as some of you do but it was baffling. I don't know whether McLeish has lost the team or in fact ever had them but the second half looked like he asked them to change something when frankly I thought (and I suspect the players did too) that there wasn't a great deal wrong with what we were doing first half. Don't know what happened with Ireland but I didn't think Bannan was too bad and his crossing was very good at times.

I didn't think Clark offered much in midfield and would really like to see him start at the back. Alongside Cuellar, who I'd like to stay.

Keane was good, I didn't want him to join but am very glad he did now.

[taylorsworkrate]

As a youngster coming through the academy system here Gardner will get a lot of support.  Today he was poor when he came on and wasted two good chances.  As much as he deserves praise when he does well he isn't exempt from criticism when hes poor, and today I thought he was poor.

Well yes he muffed his first chance, and didn't quite get enough on the header, but in both chances he made fantastic runs that none of our other midfielders except Ireland would make.

He also passed the ball well and added tempo to our game. He was far from poor.

Look to the joke of a defense for poor.