Newcastle United v Aston Villa Post-Match Thread

[CT]

I said after Forest I thought we could genuinely go down and got slaughtered for it.

All these "Captains and leaders of men" we signed seem to have vanished. I looked around after Jack was sent off at Forest, there was nothing. No leadership from anyone.

This team has no heart, and if it's not careful, will be completely reshaped again to cope with the rigours of the third division.

[cdward]

We looked ok until we conceded our first soft goal, then there was always going to be only one winner, and a matter of time until the next.
We are in a catch 22 where we lack confidence until we win a game, and we can't win a game because we lack confidence and keep making mistakes.

[A Northern Soul]

Keep Bruce, sack Bruce.  Don't matter.  I think we are going down. 

As we have to go away to Rotherham, Wigan, Blackburn & Burton it doesn't look good

[andyh]

There are a few ' the worst of it' things when it comes to villa.

The worst of it (1) is that if we go a goal down, whoever the opposition, then it's game over. The team has no fucking balls.

The worst of it (2) is that this is shaping up like last season. Can't buy a goal, can't buy a win, can't buy a fucking performance. And all the time we are being sucked further and further down the table.

The worst of it (3) is that I'm starting to not give a shit anymore.

They need to realise they are now in a relegation battle, fuck, I can't believe I'm even thinking about that.

[dave17]

Fingers crossed hogans not badly hurt but never a good sign when a player can't walk off

It's remarkable we sign some of the leagues best players who then play exactly as their predecessors did

If we go down does the good dr pull the plug?

[ROBBO]

Two soft goals again, as someone pointed out we are too small in defence and will always struggle with high balls into the box. One thing I noticed was that Kodja just refuses to pass to Hogan the one cross he put in was for Adomah coming in from the wing.
Bruce looks as though he has run out of ideas, we have no game plan that I can see and a loss to Derby may see the end of him. Credit to Hutton who gave his all and tried to support the forwards he may be limited but is up to this division, Taylor did okay but Hourihan who I really wanted us to get has up til now been disappointing. We have some good players at Villa but I am thinking that Bruce just doesn't know how to use them.

[Loxton01]

Elphick beaten by his man twice at corners for the goals. How many times can we keep giving this guy a go. He is shit

[SoccerHQ]

We had a decent first 40 minutes, didn't create anything but were definitely the better of the two sides. Hourihane looked pretty good I thought and our defence looked pretty comfortable.

But even before our usual meltdown, our shape wasn't great. I think we look much better when Kodja is playing more centrally, we never got any kind of service to Hogan who we wont see again this season. Bjarnason shouldn't have come out for the second half. In a generally decent performance he was way below par. We were a goal behind and there was nothing to suggest we'd get back into it. And so it proved. We all knew we wouldn't, it seems Bruce was just hoping despite the evidence that we could nick something. Which is a massive worry. Ironic that Bjarneson had the best/only chance in the second half cos he was no better after the break.

SHQ's observation about none of the Villa players going over to check on Hogan after he broke his ankle or tore ligaments was a bit of a revelation. Surely if a stranger broke his ankle in front of you in the street you'd check if they were ok? Doesn't say a lot for our team spirit that's for sure.

We haven't won in 9 games and if one of the bottom 3 starts to grind out a few wins I can genuinely see us going down.

Garry Thompson and Regan on WM mentioned it...eventually Hutton walked over after 2 minutes to check.

It's disgusting and doesn't indicate the team spirit with all the new players is going to be any better than last season.

What the hell happens when they walk through the doors at Bodymoor?

Chester who is imo one of the few who does have the right attitude was saying it in an interview....start of the season he was giving constructive criticism to a couple of players and they weren't having it.

[Concrete Tom]

We cause our own problems...

A professional first 40 minutes but then we concede from a scramble - you just know if there was a scramble at the other end that we wouldn't get it over the line.

It was game over after that to be honest. The own goal sums up our season. Lansbury was in the right place but didn't do the job required.

Bjarnasson had the type of chance that you just know would have gone in had it been against us.

There were shoots of encouragement throughout the game, particularly in the first half but we don't string enough of these moments together or offer any sort of consistency.

Hogan looks lively but we haven't given him the right service yet and an unfortunate injury looks like we won't have the chance to build on his running for the rest of the season.

We've been a work in progress for too long. I'm running out of patience.

[brian green]

Brontė.  Gestede was a slob on and off the pitch?  I can't allow that to go unchallenged.

[chippy]

We need to start playing two up front every game to build a partnership.  But now that Hogan is injured we're totally screwed.  We need to recall Mccormack. Even if he plays crap for us, at least he won't be scoring for Forest.  The downward spiral continues....

[villabear]

Can't give enough praise to those who travelled tonight. 👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏

[kippaxvilla2]

He's just said 'they were two horrible goals to give away' Wor this, wor that'

[LukeJames]

Finally, for the second time in six months we buy the top performing striker in the division. Another player who needs clever balls played through to him, to his feet. What do we do? Play him as a target man and thump balls towards him. Fucking stupid beyond belief. And now he is out for the season. Brilliant.

Its fucking ridiculous, we buy the best players without giving a thought on how to play them. Any fucker could see that Hogan is a clever player with good movement that works with a functioning midfield and clever passing. We brought him, as we did with McCormack and Kodjia, purely because he scores goals, but we play the absolute opposite of what he's used to, Bruce hasn't got a clue how to get the best out of him. He looks absolutely shite in this system, which is unfair on the lad.

[wince]

Fat mac back from forest? We are fucked