Newcastle United v Aston Villa Post-Match Thread

[AvFc4eVeR]

The most damning thing for me is we are now worse than we were the day RDM was sacked.

It's remarkable. For all this talk of a curse (and exactly how was this curse placed, incidentally?), how we have managed to get worse over the course of seven seasons while still spending a fuckton of money is staggering.

I have a confession to make....

I made it a ritual of mine never to leave early, even being hammered 4-1 by Coventry at home one miserable afternoon I stayed to the bitter end.

Some years later....

Aston Villa 2-0 Stoke City 87 minutes played, having sung "are you watching Arsenal" for 20 odd minutes as we powered 10 points ahead in the race for 4th, I was persuaded to leave early by some mates.

It was 2-2 by the time I had reached bottom of Holte steps.

I broke my own ritual and thus triggered the biggest clusterfuck football curse ever to reign down on any club.

Some more years later....

Please footballing gods, let this torment end, I am not worthy of forgiveness, but just make it end.

Sorry to everyone concerned.

[timeoutbigbar]

Tonight I saw an improvement of sorts in the first half, especially given our away performances, against the best side in this division. 

The team as a whole look more composed in open play defensively with Jedinak in too.  I'm not sure why Baker wasn't in the 11 today as I think his aerial ability might well have helped us out with the set pieces, which were atrocious. 

As for the strikers, our good run just after Bruce took over was with Kodjia up top alone.  Hogan hasn't had enough time for me to form any lasting opinion and his injury I imagine will mean that continues to be the case, but I think it's fair to say he's struggled so far.

Get back to an out and out 4-3-3, Grealish/Green and Adomah wide, JK central, the midfield three tonight and Baker at the back, we'll have enough to be safe.  Hopefully we'll start to look like more of a team for next season.

[adrenachrome]

I love The Villa, always will.
But I really couldn't give a shit about any of the tossers in recent years who have played for us, managed us, or anybody else who has had any direct input into our sorrowful and pathetic demise.
They have successfully alienated me and I now get absolutely zero pleasure from following us.
But these chancers and greedy underperforming fuckers who have tried to destroy my spirit can never take away my memories of days gone by.

Same here, Andy Lochhead.

Like you, I followed the club down to Division 3 and even in those 2 relegation years there was fight and spirit in the team. In fact, wearing claret and blue blinkers, I thought we were unlucky to go down on both occasions.

What we have now is a very expensively assembled collection of fanny danglers, poltroons, thimble riggers and Nancy Boys who should take to pitch wearing frilly cuffs and ruffs. 

They can go and take a flying fuck at the moon.

[curiousorange]

I am normally the most logical person you could meet. I've been an atheist since before I knew what that meant. I am aware nothing I can do will influence how Aston Villa play. That doesn't stop me wondering if I should take a Villa shirt into the nearest church and dunking it in the font.

[old man villa fan]

What is the point in playing just Hogan up front.  He is not going to hold the ball up or mix it with the opposition central defenders.  We do not looking like scoring and for Bruce to say that we had 3 or 4 good chances, I must have been asleep as I only saw one.

With Kodjia going off, I thought he should have brought Amavi on and played him in midfield but no, Bruce brings on another right footed players to make us totally unbalanced.

When I saw the team, I thought he would go 4-1-3-2 and take the game to them.  Totally fed up with the negative tactics week after week.  If he was going to play this way, why didn't he bring in a strong left sided central defender.

[LukeJames]

The most damning thing for me is we are now worse than we were the day RDM was sacked.

It's remarkable. For all this talk of a curse (and exactly how was this curse placed, incidentally?), how we have managed to get worse over the course of seven seasons while still spending a fuckton of money is staggering.

I have a confession to make....

I made it a ritual of mine never to leave early, even being hammered 4-1 by Coventry at home one miserable afternoon I stayed to the bitter end.

Some years later....

Aston Villa 2-0 Stoke City 87 minutes played, having sung "are you watching Arsenal" for 20 odd minutes as we powered 10 points ahead in the race for 4th, I was persuaded to leave early by some mates.

It was 2-2 by the time I had reached bottom of Holte steps.

I broke my own ritual and thus triggered the biggest clusterfuck football curse ever to reign down on any club.

Some more years later....

Please footballing gods, let this torment end, I am not worthy of forgiveness, but just make it end.

Sorry to everyone concerned.

To break the curse you need to come into a game in the 88th minute when we are 2-0 down.

[cdbearsfan]

Rowett. You have to be fucking kidding me

Well who else is available who could come in & turn this horror show around? I'll be jiggered if I can come up with any other realistic alternatives now.

There aren't any. We've got to keep Steve Bruce

Weren't you just spouting for Pearson again?

No. I said I was called perposterous for suggesting it and inferred I wouldn't mind that kind of fight. Got to stick with Steve Bruce. Can't keep chopping and changing, should have had Pearson in summer, we wouldn't be in fucking 17th place

I'm not sure on what logic that's based on. Derby were 20th when he got sacked by them, just as he often seems to get sacked for being an arsehole.

I'm all for a bit of fight. But it needs to go hand in hand with tactical nous, intelligence and innovation.

If we just want someone who is going to shout and swear and ramble on about ostriches, then any of the regulars at my local could do the job for far less money.

[AvFc4eVeR]

The most damning thing for me is we are now worse than we were the day RDM was sacked.

It's remarkable. For all this talk of a curse (and exactly how was this curse placed, incidentally?), how we have managed to get worse over the course of seven seasons while still spending a fuckton of money is staggering.

I have a confession to make....

I made it a ritual of mine never to leave early, even being hammered 4-1 by Coventry at home one miserable afternoon I stayed to the bitter end.

Some years later....

Aston Villa 2-0 Stoke City 87 minutes played, having sung "are you watching Arsenal" for 20 odd minutes as we powered 10 points ahead in the race for 4th, I was persuaded to leave early by some mates.

It was 2-2 by the time I had reached bottom of Holte steps.

I broke my own ritual and thus triggered the biggest clusterfuck football curse ever to reign down on any club.

Some more years later....

Please footballing gods, let this torment end, I am not worthy of forgiveness, but just make it end.

Sorry to everyone concerned.

To break the curse you need to come into a game in the 88th minute when we are 2-0 down.

I will get to VP for 5:43pm on Saturday then

[Nunkin1965]

Definitely ligaments for Hogan. He went right over on it. At least 3 months I would think so that would be it for this season.

Considering it was from our corner and he was clearly in distress, it really was appalling that no-one went to him. Just a group of players thrown together with no identity and no togetherness. We are in serious trouble.

It's a very interesting point about no one seeing if Hogan was okay until Hutton came over.  Gary Thompson was raging about it on the radio.  The team spirit appears non existent.

utterly depressing

Truly shocking. By far and away the worst part of the night for me.

Newcastle players called on the physio didn't they?

That's it. That's your team spirit right there. And f there's no team spirit its over.

[PeterWithesShin]

I will get to VP for 5:43pm on Saturday then

Just in time to see our first substitution.

[brontebilly]

What is the point in playing just Hogan up front.  He is not going to hold the ball up or mix it with the opposition central defenders.  We do not looking like scoring and for Bruce to say that we had 3 or 4 good chances, I must have been asleep as I only saw one.

With Kodjia going off, I thought he should have brought Amavi on and played him in midfield but no, Bruce brings on another right footed players to make us totally unbalanced.

When I saw the team, I thought he would go 4-1-3-2 and take the game to them.  Totally fed up with the negative tactics week after week.  If he was going to play this way, why didn't he bring in a strong left sided central defender.

Was Bjarnason really on the right wing tonight? He seemed to be a lot more narrow than Kodjia. Certainly gave us no width.

The two times Bjarnason got close to Hogan, he had two great chances. Granted benefiting from poor Newcastle defending.

Hourihane and Lansbury were far too deep in the second half. One of them should have been playing off Hogan. But Bruce erred badly by not replacing a flagging Jedinak much earlier, that meant we retreated further. Lansbury is painfully slow and has an appalling attitude. Hourihane disappeared without trace in the second half too.

[wince]

Kodjia needs to listen to ac dc.  A touch too much. We are in relegation form and sooner we ditch Bruce the better. Today and for a while we have had relegation Bruce....i have we backed him for a while but now......no, he is not for us

[QuintonVilla]

Bruce has been in since October now and I'm still struggling to work out what our style of play is? Are we a counter attacking team? Are we a team who wants a lot of possession? I just don't see anything. To me it's like he's just signed a lot of the best players in the league (and turned them to shit), stuck them on the pitch and hoped for the best every game.

It says everything that the first half was probably our best away performance since Brighton in November. It also says a lot when Alan Hutton is your best player.

[kippaxvilla2]

When you bring Bacuna on in the last couple of minutes for no apparent reason you know the game is up.

[adrenachrome]

Definitely ligaments for Hogan. He went right over on it. At least 3 months I would think so that would be it for this season.

Considering it was from our corner and he was clearly in distress, it really was appalling that no-one went to him. Just a group of players thrown together with no identity and no togetherness. We are in serious trouble.

It's a very interesting point about no one seeing if Hogan was okay until Hutton came over.  Gary Thompson was raging about it on the radio.  The team spirit appears non existent.

utterly depressing

Truly shocking. By far and away the worst part of the night for me.

Newcastle players called on the physio didn't they?

That's it. That's your team spirit right there. And f there's no team spirit its over.

Here is a shocking comparison for you.

Do you you remember when Luke Moore was injured in a bad tackle and David O'Leary ran onto the pitch risking the wrath of the officials to see if he was OK?