Newcastle United v Aston Villa Post-Match Thread

[Legion]

Joy.

[VILLA MOLE]

first half we hussled very well, but the second half you cannot sustain that without decent possession

why do we not try and keep the ball better and make so many daft footballing decisions ??

[SashasGrandad]

Forget about the management for a bit because I want the players on the pitch to play with a passion and commitment that they actually give a shit about the VILLA, that should be a given but at the moment it isn't and that is NOT acceptable!

This.

I went to Cardiff and watched on TV today. In both games we had spells when we should have scored and put pressure on the home teams who both lacked confidence. We could/should/would have gone on to win both theses games.

What is most worrying is we didn't/couldn't/where not good enough to win.

5pts given away - would have put us in top half - in sight of teams above. Now we are only 4 pts above the drop zone. Odd flashes of hope in the last 2 games have been squashed by inadequate performances and a lack of cohesion - what did they do in Portugal? Play golf? Visit local brothels? Probably couldn't score there either!

[leylandalbion]

just got back,we bossed the last 35 of 1st half, and my 5 year old said..."well we wont win now cause we will be rubbish in the 2nd".  We all knew it.  Benteke couldn't be arsed and the front 3 wasted so many very promising situations.  They were there for the taking today...they in periods are worse than us!  Very disappointed, opportunity missed and back into high pressure games...just hope we pull it around like last season

[Ron Manager]

Its depressing that whatever we think.whatever we suggest, and whatever the players on the pitch do, absolutely nothing will change at the club... whatsoever!. That is unless the season ticket holders vote with their finances and pull out at the end of this season.

[Des Little]

Just got in. A very cruel way to lose, but ultimately all our own fault. Shocking ball retention, brainless passing and puzzling tactical changes, putting it mildly. We are without doubt entering the most crucial part of the season in the worst form possible and it's not going to be pretty. Let's hope that our esteemed manager can drag the required results out of the bag to keep us safe. Personally, I'm not sure he can.

[Clampy]

Just got in. A very cruel way to lose, but ultimately all our own fault. Shocking ball retention, brainless passing and puzzling tactical changes, putting it mildly. We are without doubt entering the most crucial part of the season in the worst form possible and it's not going to be pretty. Let's hope that our esteemed manager can drag the required results out of the bag to keep us safe. Personally, I'm not sure he can.

Fair play for going up there. Yes, It was a cruel way to lose but you could half see it coming.

[Mister E]

It's the absence of ball retention; the inability to impose ourselves on the game; the sense that our attacking effort will wither; the inevitability of the late concession.
Supporting a football team is almost-always an exercise in hope over expectation: supporting Villa at this time in the club's history is an exercise in futility and nihilism.

[WarszaVillan]

Villa's next three games are on the telly. We very rarely seem to win when we're on the telly.  Hopefully we can break a couple of records next week against Norwich.  Win at home, win at all!!

Next 4 - Norwich , Chelsea, Man U and stoke all live on tv.

Every game is on telly

[sid cowans10]

Just got back as most of my family are from the Washington are of Newcastle stopped and had a drink with them and they could not believed that they had seen a team worse than them and to be honest they were shocking and won I am gutted we seem to be going bad to worse what do we do !!!!!!!

[OzVilla]

It's the predictability of it all that makes it all the more depressing.

Totally fed up with this shit now.

[mike]

This really is a dreadful era to be a Villa fan. It's easily the worst squad of players since '87. The worst part about it is that there doesn't seem to be any sign of it changing.

Agreed.  I've got two young boys; 5 and 3.  How am I supposed to get them excited about this shower?

Mine are 7 and 5, we live outside the West Midlands so they are the only Villa fans in their school - they actually get laughed at. Mostly Brighton and Chelsea round here. Other than " my Dad supports them" why would anyone outside the catchment area support the Villa?

I've been told my 10 year old son has very good comebacks whenever his football team are the subject of any mocking. His stock answer is usually 'I remember when you supported Man Utd/Chelsea etc' or 'who do you think you'll be supporting next season?'.

He might not bother to even watch 'highlights' on MOTD even these days but he's still fiercely protective and loyal!

I cannot think why I would take my 3 year old an hour and a half each way and pay a fortune to watch a team of grossly overpaid nobodies lose every week. What name would I put on the back of his shirt? Vlaar, the man who's never fit or Benteke who won't be here? Certainly won't be Young, Barry, Milner level players again.

Next season it'll be Hereford United, who may be shit but at least they're close to me, cheap and about the same level of players.

[old man villa fan]

It's funny that you can watch the same game as other people and come out of it with completely different views.  You see things that other people do not see and they see things that you do not see.  The only conclusion I can come to is that at times you see what you want to see and ignore what you do not want to see.

I have followed football for many years.  In past years I would watch whatever match was on the TV and enjoy it.  Today, I generally only watch Villa, because it is Villa.  I am fed up with the whole football thing.  Money has killed the game in England as a competitive sport for those other than the top 6.  All of the money that is coming into the game is either going into players' pockets or going overseas to pay for this never ending stream of foreign players.  Football in England is slowly strangling itself to death.  Where is the money that used to flow down the leagues so that they could develop players that they could sell on.  How many players can you name in the top 6 that have been bought from lower league teams.  For that matter, how many from teams lower in the PL.

We do not have the financial power to compete at the top and I cannot criticise Lerner for not throwing vast amounts of money at a minimal chance.  However, I can criticise him for not making sufficient available to improve the team in the last 2 years so that we can at least show some progress.  If he cannot even afford that, he should look to find a buyer and get out as it will only get worse for him.

Back to the game today and comments I have read.  I thought we played the better in the first half and could have gone in ahead.  We should have stepped it up after halftime as it was clear that Newcastle would come out stronger than they were in the first half.  It was clear that Westwood was injured as he signalled over to the bench that he was struggling.  I am not a big fan of KEA but thought he had a reasonable game, especially first half.

Somebody earlier best summed it up for me, we have no winners in the side.  There was no desire to give everything to the point of coming off the pitch having given everything.  Although there were others, I would pick out Gabby as the worst culprit of this.  If he has the ball in space he can look brilliant but without the ball, he just stands there.  He will not look to create space for the pass, he half-heartedly tries to close players down.  He looks flat-footed in the box when the ball comes in.  His seemingly couldn't care less attitude as seen in his laughing and joking during the game after one miss after another.  I could go on and on.  He is one of the senior players in the side and is quickly becoming a luxury we cannot afford.  He is becoming the epitome of the modern player, over paid and under performing.

I am not sure where we go from here.  I do believe that this is not the right time to get rid of the manager.  Without money to spend, managers are not going to put their reputation on the line.  You are then into the has-beens or the untried and untested.  It is easy to sit on the side lines and say we should do this or that without taking everything into consideration.  There are some posters on here that study the game, others that make fair comment but there are others that are so over the top that they are starting to make me consider not coming on here.  As I said at the beginning, people see the game differently and I may be better off (and certainly for my sanity) sticking in my own world and leave others to theirs.

[gervilla]

I thought our centre backs dealt well with everything that was thrown at them for 90 mins today.
Stupid 3 minutes added time.
I fear where we will be in a few weeks time....and how difficult we may find it to get out of the poop.

[villajk]

Just got back after a tedious train journey up there yesterday and a tedious one back today (there was a bit of excitement when the police got on at Sheffield to speak to a very odious man who kept gate crashing 1st class , had a row with the train manager and saying the most vulgar things.  All this with three kids in tow).

However,  the football was even more tedious, especially in the second half.  It's simply not good enough.