Aston Villa v Newcastle Post-Match Thread

[brontebilly]

Disappointing as we played quite well first half, best football for weeks and Bailey, Tammy had really good chances to go 2 up. But game changed on red and some kamikaze plays. Thought Emery made a mess of our tactical setup with 10, two up top was insanity with likes of Barkley blowing a gasket in midfield. Never gave us a chance.

Positives for me were our three returnees. Barkley got much needed minutes in his legs. Bogarde solid against Barnes and Lindelof very good again. Negatives, Bizot's moment of madness aside, Digne was appalling and should have been sent off. Not sure about Torres form either. Buendia poor off the bench.

Bizot 0 - killed us
Bogarde 6 - crazy pass at end spoiled a fine defensive performance v Barnes
Lindelof 8 - very good yet again, not sure he should be fourth choice CB
Torres 5 - distribution very meh, not sure about him at all currently
Digne 1 - poor even before that crazy tackle on Murphy, more refereeing incompetence denied them a penalty, looked utterly finished
Onana 6 - average enough first half but did try hard in second. Limited on ball as ever
Luiz 7 - outstanding first half I thought, beggars belief a player this good couldn't make Forest team. Tired as expected in second
Bailey 7 - divided opinions when on pitch, crazy decision to go for a cross field pass that led to red card but up to then I was impressed. Direct, good touch, strong on ball, poor decision making but kept trying to do the right thing. Missed a bit of a sitter but positive signs for me. Awful decision to hook him first
Rogers 6 - really good first half out on the left for a change. Needed a lot more from him after half time but should have been left where he was
Abraham 7 - very good first half, fortunate goal but hold up play, touch and workrate caused problems and might have got him starting spot v Leeds
Barkley 4 - in need of the run to put it mildly, should have gone first. Will benefit from it

Difficult for any sub to get into it, Sancho showed some nice touches in that inoffensive manner of his. Disappointed in Buendia. Good that we got likes of Tammy, Luiz and Rogers off the pitch relatively early.

[Nev]

No complaints. Brainless at times. I’ve complained about some if the decisions going against this season but my god the ref had a shocker for us today. First goal offside, Digne should probably have been sent off and then he clearly handles inside the box but the officials give a free kick outside?!? More concerning is the fact that this 3 home losses out of the last 4 home games. Fortress VP no more.

But how are we expected to keep such a fine record when we lose 3 vital players? We have no way of replacing them so surely this dip in form is fully expected, hence our dismay at the injuries?

We are in a shitty run but need to ride it out until SJM and Youri are back. They are not the be all and end all but fuck me they help.

Because we have to. What other choice do we have. Onana, Barkley and Dougie whilst not at the same level are more than adequate alternatives. We should be more than capable of taking of taking more than zero points at home against Everton and brentford.

Absolutely we should but there were two appalling decisions that didn't help, no one said a word but when something goes in our favour it's a travesty.

Tonight was a missed opportunity because of some brainless play but we are still in a good position in the other two competitions.

[Jon Crofts]

Think I’d rather lose to the Blues than that shower of ******.

[Jane]

Bizot can fuck off tonight. Scandalous.

[Behind Bluenose Lines]

Ah well, the FA Cup misery continues. Onwards….

Just a particularly frustrating and unnecessary way to go out though!

As you say, onwards...

[FatSam]

Why can’t we play like that against ten men?

[Behind Bluenose Lines]

Think I’d rather lose to the Blues than that shower of ******.

Steady on!

[LeonW]

No complaints. Brainless at times. I’ve complained about some if the decisions going against this season but my god the ref had a shocker for us today. First goal offside, Digne should probably have been sent off and then he clearly handles inside the box but the officials give a free kick outside?!? More concerning is the fact that this 3 home losses out of the last 4 home games. Fortress VP no more.

But how are we expected to keep such a fine record when we lose 3 vital players? We have no way of replacing them so surely this dip in form is fully expected, hence our dismay at the injuries?

We are in a shitty run but need to ride it out until SJM and Youri are back. They are not the be all and end all but fuck me they help.

Because we have to. What other choice do we have. Onana, Barkley and Dougie whilst not at the same level are more than adequate alternatives. We should be more than capable of taking of taking more than zero points at home against Everton and brentford.

Absolutely we should but there were two appalling decisions that didn't help, no one said a word but when something goes in our favour it's a travesty.

Tonight was a missed opportunity because of some brainless play but we are still in a good position in the other two competitions.

More than two appalling decisions as I’ve banged on about for awhile. We got the decisions go in favour today and still made a royal mess of taking advantage of them.

I’d rather have had the three points from the league match against them rather than progress in the cup. Our current squad can’t compete on 3 fronts.

[LeeS]

Brilliant. We gave up Kamara and a title challenge for that cup ‘run.’

That argument says we should have played the u18s in case any first teamers got injured. It’s painful to lose but our issue is squad depth, not individual injuries.

[SamTheMouse]

We were fine until Bailey did his Bambi on Ice impression (he falls over a lot, doesn't he?) and Bizot basically threw the game.

They should fine him a month's wages for that, it was utterly moronic.

[Ianu]

Tonali stepped up for them today. We need our fifty million man in midfield to dominate games. He’s been ok, but like Unai says, we need more ..

[AV82EC]

Agree with most of Brontes ratings here apart from Torres who was a 3 or 4 maximum, absolutely dreadful.

[tomd2103]

Never winning that after we went down to 10 men.  We just hadn't got the players out there capable of scrapping out a result in those circumstances. 

Obviously disappointed but if I'm totally honest, after the semi-final trip to Wembley last year and the importance of the other two competitions we're in, I can't say I'm devastated tonight.  I don't like it at all, but we are in a footballing world where finishing 5th in the Premier League is a bigger prize than the domestic cup competitons.

[Somniloquism]

Why can’t we play like that against ten men?

Because we don't get a lucky deflection. If the Tammy goal had been given against Brentford and it was 1-1, I reckon we could have gone on and won. Before then Newcastle were having as much luck breaking us down we were against Brentford with that goal being their first on target.

[Somniloquism]

Agree with most of Brontes ratings here apart from Torres who was a 3 or 4 maximum, absolutely dreadful.

Not sure what he did wrong defensively to only earn a 3 or 4.