Newcastle United v Aston Villa Post-Match Thread

[ktvillan]

I only saw the first half.  I take it it went downhill second?

From what I saw I thought we played some lovely stuff going forward at times, with Keane, Petrov, Ireland , N'Zog and Bent carving Toon open a few times.  Their goal was against the run of play, and once again our defence made it too easy for them.  I thought we could and should have been at least two up at half time.  Not Bent's day for finishing but credit to the keeper and to Bent for making the runs.  If only we had a defence and could keep it up for 90 (or even 70) minutes we'd be a decent team. 

Keane was great again, constantly moving and looking for the ball and clever passes, flicks and runs.
N'zogbia and Ireland are starting to look decent players.
Petrov looks a better player with a bit of movement ahead of him. 
Clark is way too slow to be a top player.  Barry looks like Usain Bolt compared to him.
Dunne is a cert for at least one huge clanger every game, usually conceding a penalty or a goal.
Warnock needs to learn to stay on his feet and not dive in so much.

[Concrete John]

I see a lot of talk about the Heskey substitution, but it didn't really change anything that lost us the game.  N'Zogbia wasn't really involved, so no arguments for me about him going off.  What cost us the game was not taking our chances prior to Emile coming on the field, yet people say that change was why we lost?


I thought Hutton was decent and Warnock was poor again.

We seemed to go within ourselves when Ireland went off and only started attacking again once they got the 2nd.  Not sure if that was tactical or a matter of Newcastle just having the upper hand, but we certainly deserved something from the game.

[Mazrim]

Given 6 - Not at fault for either goal.
Hutton 6 - Meh.
Dunne 2 - At fault for both goals (losing an aerial challenge with a pathetic jump and then deciding to leave his man unmarked to stand on the goal line, then the positional sense and agilty of Stephen Hawking for the second). I also loved his mazy runs through midfield before giving the ball away. A fucking lummox I can't wait to see the back of in the summer.
Cuellar - 6. Decent.
Warnock - 5. meh.
Ireland - 6. Decent enough when involved.
Petrov - 5. Largely anonymous.
Clark - 5. Patchy.
N'Zogbia - 6. Occasionally threatening
Keane - 7. A standout.
Bent - 5. Frustratingly off colour.

Bannan - 6. Decent cameo.
Heskey - 6. Did what I expected him to do.
Gardner - Trust me, this kid is the future for us. Unlucky not to score with the header and the shot was uncharacteristically poor. His timing of runs and general play is excellent and when he gets a break there will be no stopping him.

Lots and lots of work to do but I'm pretty down about matters Villa today.
Every time the ball goes in our box it's like a live hand grenade. Every deflection ends up perfectly in the path of the opposition dangerman. Everybody who is in form or making their debut is hurting us with scripted predictability. I hope the luck element turns for us soon but we're also not helping ourselves one bit.

There would be a good team there with a different defence. Which is unfortunate because a good defence (i'd accept vaguely competent) is essential to being a good team. We have to score 2 or 3 goals or more to get points now it seems.
Drop Richard Dunne and play anybody else and let's see how that goes for a bit I say.

We need Herd, Albrighton and Agbonlahor back asap.
As for the supposed unrest in the dressing room. I'll wait for more solid proof but a few of these players can get to fuck as far as I'm concerned and if they are also causing trouble as well as mugging us off with dopey lacklustre performances they can sit it out until summer when they can go, whatever the consequences.

[Chris Smith]

A pretty even game decided by a debutant scoring with an unstoppable shot. Sound familiar?

[Rick_avfc]

Shouldnt have lost. simple.

[Chris Smith]

Shouldnt have lost. simple.

Far, far from simple. It was a close game decided by a cracking goal and their keeper making a number of good saves. Another day it would have gone our way, that's the nature of sport.

[Rick_avfc]

Shouldnt have lost. simple.

Far, far from simple. It was a close game decided by a cracking goal and their keeper making a number of good saves. Another day it would have gone our way, that's the nature of sport.

Why is it far from simple?  Yes it was a cracking goal but what was dunne doing?  he had enough time to see it and act but messed it up and why wasn't warnock closer to Cisse anticipating a potential balls up by Dunne?  From what I can remember Cisse was the only man in and around that area when the cross came in so Warnock had no one else to worry about.
We shouldnt have lost that game and I stand by that.

[Somniloquism]

Shouldnt have lost. simple.

Far, far from simple. It was a close game decided by a cracking goal and their keeper making a number of good saves. Another day it would have gone our way, that's the nature of sport.

For most of the games this season apart from about 6, you could argue "another day it would have gone our way". We are running out of games for it to "go our way this season" and the reason for that is typically defensive gifts to the opposition.

[Irish villain]

When I came to work this morning there was a look of pain on my Arsenal supporting boss's face. He said he watched out game and just couldn't believe what happened to us. He said we have such a 'soft core', that we just capitulate in games we should win.

That for me is the most ominous thing. if we get sucked into the dreaded R (I cannot even say it) dogfight, will we have the stomach to get ouselves out of it? We have the ability, it's our spirit that's the problem.

[Rick_avfc]

When I came to work this morning there was a look of pain on my Arsenal supporting boss's face. He said he watched out game and just couldn't believe what happened to us. He said we have such a 'soft core', that we just capitulate in games we should win.

That for me is the most ominous thing. if we get sucked into the dreaded R (I cannot even say it) dogfight, will we have the stomach to get ouselves out of it? We have the ability, it's our spirit that's the problem.

Soft core?  A bit rich coming from an arsenal fan.  They're missing a number of players that would have had them well above Chelsea and tottenham in the league.

I have a feeling we are going to get sucked right into the mix come the next few games.  Cant the season end today? 

[pauliewalnuts]

Shouldnt have lost. simple.

Far, far from simple. It was a close game decided by a cracking goal and their keeper making a number of good saves. Another day it would have gone our way, that's the nature of sport.

For most of the games this season apart from about 6, you could argue "another day it would have gone our way". We are running out of games for it to "go our way this season" and the reason for that is typically defensive gifts to the opposition.

I agree, to be honest.

We're playing spells of decent football, but undermining ourselves by defending so poorly. We need to start to win more matches, fast.

[Irish villain]

When I came to work this morning there was a look of pain on my Arsenal supporting boss's face. He said he watched out game and just couldn't believe what happened to us. He said we have such a 'soft core', that we just capitulate in games we should win.

That for me is the most ominous thing. if we get sucked into the dreaded R (I cannot even say it) dogfight, will we have the stomach to get ouselves out of it? We have the ability, it's our spirit that's the problem.

Soft core?  A bit rich coming from an arsenal fan.  They're missing a number of players that would have had them well above Chelsea and tottenham in the league.

I have a feeling we are going to get sucked right into the mix come the next few games.  Cant the season end today? 

It wasn't meant in a bad way, he is well aware of his own team's frailty. It was a fair comment I thought. We lack belief. We should have won yesterday as we were every bit as good as they were. We just didn't grab the game by teh scruff in the second half. That comes down to character.

[VillaAlways]

Losing becomes a habit unfortunately as does winning.See Blackburn midweek,battered Newcastle for 90 mins and lost 2-0.We have zero belief and it's there for everybody to see.It's easy for the players because they can just hide behind the manager when they f*ck up

[Vanilla]

Don't you also think a problem is we were shored like a house in the hurricane earlier in the season. This meant meant we didn't concede many, but couldn't score. Now we have opened up to try and have an attacking threat, but the defence, which had had virtually the whole team defending with them before, has now been found wanting.

[taylorsworkrate]

Don't you also think a problem is we were shored like a house in the hurricane earlier in the season. This meant meant we didn't concede many, but couldn't score. Now we have opened up to try and have an attacking threat, but the defence, which had had virtually the whole team defending with them before, has now been found wanting.

The defense was hardly watertight early in the season.

All you need to do is look at all the ridiculous goals conceded from set pieces.