Newcastle United v Aston Villa Match Thread

[Boz]

Compared to the first two games this is a lot better. By and large, a decent all round performance but need another goal, as one is never enough and Pardew will no doubt have them fired up for the second half, but PL needs to do the same, no resting on what they've got.

Given the new players becoming available, I hope they all realise they need to perform to keep their shirts.

Come on Villa, lets stick it up Pardew.

[supertom]

Good so far. We're away from home against a very good side. I think we're doing very well. I think Holman's been okay. He's not had much time on the ball when he's been in the attacking third, but he's worked hard, got in some good positions. He looks fitter than he did at West Ham. He was struggling with injury then. He's certainly been a damn sight more effective than CNZ would be. I mean Holman isn't technically brilliant, but he can play. His work-rate is really useful. Reminds me of Kuyt at Liverpool. Underrated for what he did, but was always in the team for a reason.
Ireland's working hard. Bent's not been given much time and space. A few times he's had it and you just wish he was a better footballer, but he's not as comfortable on the ball some players. Still, he looks likely to score today with more service.
Weimann is struggling to get into the game. I'd like to see Gabby. I doubt he's actually close to being ready though. If we grab a 2nd goal, I'd love to see Bowery get 10-15 minutes.

[eastie]

Half time key points for me:

- still really nervous and on another day Newcastle would have scored
- but compared to my expectations, a damn sight better
- tactics working well, particularly the hassling
- still a bit sloppy on the ball at times, and you feel that one of these free kicks is going to hurt us at some point
- Best players for me: Clark, Guzan, Bannan, Lowton and Bent doing a  better target man impression than normal
- Holman working hard but not the best on the ball. El Ahmadi needs to adjust to the pace of English football

- I reckon Gabby or CNZ might be a threat as a sub. But I've thought that previously.
- Would love to have a Delph on the bench to come on and add some steel.

Cheers.

How come Bennett isn't playing? I thought he was legible as he wasn't signed on deadline day.

Not fully fit .

[ez]

Job half done. Its important we can keep going forward whenever possible. We don't want an alamo situation.

[silhillvilla]

Solid 1st half, let's keep it going boys

[eastie]

Compared to the first two games this is a lot better. By and large, a decent all round performance but need another goal, as one is never enough and Pardew will no doubt have them fired up for the second half, but PL needs to do the same, no resting on what they've got.

Given the new players becoming available, I hope they all realise they need to perform to keep their shirts.

Come on Villa, lets stick it up Pardew.

Agree,nice to have a manager who picks players on form and who will drop players if they don't perform.

[onje_villa]

I do feel that we may end up losing today but I think most of us thought we would.
What is encouraging apart from being 1-0 up is that we appear to be improving and learning at a faster rate than was expected.

The majority of these are young players and the system and style is new, I still think at times we're overplaying. Almost as though they want to make no long balls whatsoever, Newcastle have looked dangerous getting the ball into the box as did West Ham. Perhaps occasionally mixing it up is wise but credit the team for sticking to the gameplan and keeping it short.

I think if we give this team 10 games to bed in and not be too near the bottom come the back end of the season we may start to see some great stuff, and we'll all be in a warm, happy place

[Monty]

Hunting the ball in packs was a feature of Norwich last year, and it's good to see us finally doing it.

[Chipsticks]

Half time key points for me:

- still really nervous and on another day Newcastle would have scored
- but compared to my expectations, a damn sight better
- tactics working well, particularly the hassling
- still a bit sloppy on the ball at times, and you feel that one of these free kicks is going to hurt us at some point
- Best players for me: Clark, Guzan, Bannan, Lowton and Bent doing a  better target man impression than normal
- Holman working hard but not the best on the ball. El Ahmadi needs to adjust to the pace of English football

- I reckon Gabby or CNZ might be a threat as a sub. But I've thought that previously.
- Would love to have a Delph on the bench to come on and add some steel.

Cheers.

How come Bennett isn't playing? I thought he was legible as he wasn't signed on deadline day.

Not fully fit .

Ah, shame that. Will he be back for the Swansea game?

[Jimbo]

Newcastle fans moaning about two penalties they 'should' have had.

[russon]

in other news...Rangers 0-1 Elgin. Sweet!

[caster troy]

Promising first half. Better pressing, more urgency, more chances created. Considering the players we have to come in I'm becoming more optimistic. This would be a massive win if we can hold on.

[onje_villa]

Promising first half. Better pressing, more urgency, more chances created. Considering the players we have to come in I'm becoming more optimistic. This would be a massive win if we can hold on.

And if we don't let's not get too down-hearted, we look to be on the road to a better place than the last few years!

[CJ]

It's so refreshing after the last couple of years to see us playing a higher tempo, passing game.  Regardless of the final result today I'm more positive about the future than I have been for ages.  I think once he's got the new signings bedded in PL will do a great job for us

[Rigadon]

This may well be a season of transition, but we need to at least draw from this position.  Teams can very quickly get cast adrift in this league.  Keep it up lads!