Aston Villa v Newcastle United Post-Match Thread

[Chris Smith]

Very disappointing attendance yesterday. They were there in fierce I guess about 3000 so only 27000 home supporters bothered to turn up. Sad state of affairs from a very Big city for a big club.

We invariably get lowish crowds at the start of the season. For example I know 5 season ticket holders who couldn't make it yesterday due to holidays and the cricket. Add in it being on the box and two more games to come this week then there are plenty of mitigating circumstances.

[Rudy Can't Fail]

Don't often post, but already this season Gabby is really frustrating me. !!! IMO he would be better moving to pastures new as he offers us nothing apart from a bit of speed. His problem is he doesn't know how to use it effectively and never has done. His goal ratio is shocking and Wiemman has to suffer out wide to accommodate him. Four goals last season !!!! God he has more kids than he got goals last season. But I get the impression under Lambert he is the first name on the team sheet. We look a lot more solid this season but I cannot see us scoring many until Benteke is back, lets give Bent and Wiemman a go down the middle as a two now we have the rock sitting in front of the back four. Newcastle I thought were poor on the plus side we probably would have lost this game last season. We have the nucleus of a good side but whilst Gabby struts around doing nothing we are not going to score many goals.

Good post but why is Gabby undroppable? Is Lambert worried about upsetting those fans who see Gabby as a villa legend. Is it a reward for his years of service? That's all i can think of.

Gabby and Andi both worked hard yesterday but produced next to nothing. In my view if everyone was fit we would probably not see both starting but as it stands there is little option. Bent is a bit of a luxury and we are not in a position to carry players who don't put in the work.

Agreed, Chris. I was impressed with Gabby in the first 25 minutes yesterday, he linked up play extremely well, it surprises me the level of abuse he gets on here. We're disfunctional in attack because we have no plan. Until Sanchez came on, the midfield were lying so deep, Gabby had to come back to fill the huge gap. Andi playing out wide does nothing in terms of playing to his strengths other than putting in a shift.

What makes it even more frustrating is it's not like under MON where we had 8 in defence, our new look defence are confident and don't rely on the midfield to join them. We need to expand a little, fill the gap between defence and attack and as Delph showed in the second half, when the midfield support the attack we'll create more opportunities for the strikers.

Early days and obviously sorting out the defence after last season was top priority so I'm not panicing. I'll start panicing if we still don't have an attacking plan over the next few weeks. Newcastle were there for the taking and I'm sure we'll look back and see it as two points dropped.

[OCD]

Very disappointing attendance yesterday. They were there in fierce I guess about 3000 so only 27000 home supporters bothered to turn up. Sad state of affairs from a very Big city for a big club.

We invariably get lowish crowds at the start of the season. For example I know 5 season ticket holders who couldn't make it yesterday due to holidays and the cricket. Add in it being on the box and two more games to come this week then there are plenty of mitigating circumstances.

Most clubs record attendance in terms of tickets sold so season ticket holders would be counted in the attendance whether they were there or not. Game being on TV, people being on holiday and the lack of an optimistic feel after the last few years probably all contributed. Hopefully all 3 of those things will change.

[Damo70]

Decent performance especially first half and towards the end of the second. The defence looked solid but we look a bit toothless in attack unfortunately. I thought Delph was MOTM.

[hipkiss92]

Very disappointing attendance yesterday. They were there in fierce I guess about 3000 so only 27000 home supporters bothered to turn up. Sad state of affairs from a very Big city for a big club.

We invariably get lowish crowds at the start of the season. For example I know 5 season ticket holders who couldn't make it yesterday due to holidays and the cricket. Add in it being on the box and two more games to come this week then there are plenty of mitigating circumstances.

Game on tv, expensive tickets with two more home games this week, bank holiday weekend and the biggest day of domestic cricket being on Birmingham, I'd say 30k was about par

[Percy McCarthy]

Very disappointing attendance yesterday. They were there in fierce I guess about 3000 so only 27000 home supporters bothered to turn up. Sad state of affairs from a very Big city for a big club.

We invariably get lowish crowds at the start of the season. For example I know 5 season ticket holders who couldn't make it yesterday due to holidays and the cricket. Add in it being on the box and two more games to come this week then there are plenty of mitigating circumstances.

Most clubs record attendance in terms of tickets sold so season ticket holders would be counted in the attendance whether they were there or not. Game being on TV, people being on holiday and the lack of an optimistic feel after the last few years probably all contributed. Hopefully all 3 of those things will change.

I think Chris's point about the season ticket holders was to illustrate that there are reasons why many people didn't go, not that it knocked five off the crowd.

[damon loves JT]

Mrs Exeter was born and brought up on the outskirts if Newcastle and her usual description if the North East is 'fantastic place, awful people'.

I went to a grouse shoot in Northumberland a couple of weeks ago. There were some posh Geordies there. As great an aberration of nature as the Scouse Tory (Esther McVey, Cilla Black)

[Toronto Villa]

Very disappointing attendance yesterday. They were there in fierce I guess about 3000 so only 27000 home supporters bothered to turn up. Sad state of affairs from a very Big city for a big club.

We invariably get lowish crowds at the start of the season. For example I know 5 season ticket holders who couldn't make it yesterday due to holidays and the cricket. Add in it being on the box and two more games to come this week then there are plenty of mitigating circumstances.

we got 42k for Liverpool in the first home game last year, followed by 37k, 34k, 35k and 35k for the next 5 home games. The year before we had 36k to see Everton. Yesterday being on TV and an early kick off certainly were factors but to just get over 30k was poor for the opening game.

[LeeB]

Well, once again the defence,all of them, looked fit for purpose. That was a very good stop by Guzan towards the end. The midfield were ok but obviously not outstanding. Both Agbonlahor and Weimann were ineffective. Weimann in my opinion lacks the basic attributes to be a top class forward. He should be operating at Championship or even Division I level. Hopefully our two big men will be back in the next month.

We are going to need them.

Unfortunately Ron I agree regarding Weimann.

[PGW]

Very disappointing attendance yesterday. They were there in fierce I guess about 3000 so only 27000 home supporters bothered to turn up. Sad state of affairs from a very Big city for a big club.

What do you expect with the garbage that was served up last season at home. Season Tickets will be way down on last season. I thought that 30k is a decent turn out.

[Toronto Villa]

we don't have intelligence in the forward line. We have buffers and puffers. Both Gabby and Weimann will run around a lot and I'm sure their Opta stats will show the cover a lot of the pitch during a game. But in both cases yesterday as an example I doubt it was either intelligent or efficient.

[Toronto Villa]

Very disappointing attendance yesterday. They were there in fierce I guess about 3000 so only 27000 home supporters bothered to turn up. Sad state of affairs from a very Big city for a big club.

What do you expect with the garbage that was served up last season at home. Season Tickets will be way down on last season. I thought that 30k is a decent turn out.

Not saying you're wrong, but in McLeish's first season we got more for the visit of Blackburn in our opening game. And things at that point didn't seem they could get any worse.

[Ron Manager]

we don't have intelligence in the forward line. We have buffers and puffers. Both Gabby and Weimann will run around a lot and I'm sure their Opta stats will show the cover a lot of the pitch during a game. But in both cases yesterday as an example I doubt it was either intelligent or efficient.

'Buffers and Puffers?'. Are you a secret twitcher TV?

[Toronto Villa]

we don't have intelligence in the forward line. We have buffers and puffers. Both Gabby and Weimann will run around a lot and I'm sure their Opta stats will show the cover a lot of the pitch during a game. But in both cases yesterday as an example I doubt it was either intelligent or efficient.

'Buffers and Puffers?'. Are you a secret twitcher TV?

haha...I meant huffers.

You'd think I was an MP with that kind of comment!

[Damo70]

Regarding the attendance, I think there were a number of factors. Firstly the drop in season ticket sales. Also people on holiday, game on TV and the knock on effect from that of an early kick off. Plus with three home games in a week if you want to miss one to ease the financial burden then the one live on TV would be the obvious choice. But even allowing for all that, if we want to maintain or improve our average gates then we need to win more home games. A biggish signing might help but it still comes down to people being fed up of seeing us lose so often.