Newcastle 3-3 Aston Villa: Toon kick off USA Summer Series with thrilling draw
Newcastle kicked off our Summer Series with a 3-3 draw against Aston Villa. Strikes from Elliot Anderson and Alexander Isak cancelled out Ollie Watkins and Emi Buendia's opening goals, before Wilson levelled things up again in the second half after Buendia's second of the game.
While many expected us to start with our traditional 4-3-3 formation, Eddie Howe looked to be experimenting with his team as we appeared to be lining up in a 3-4-3 with Paul Dummett, Fabian Schar and Kieran Trippier acting as a back three while Jacob Murphy and Matt Targett moved further up the pitch out wide.
Immediately, it was clear that the players were both not used to this formation change and still very rusty as Aston Villa opened us up almost every time they gained the ball. Players found themselves in acres of space out wide in the first 20 minutes, the Villans could have been 3-0 or 4-0 up.
It was a quick start for Emery's side as Watkins opened the scoring in the seventh minute after being played through one-on-one with Martin Dubravka by Buendia. The Argentinian won a key midfield battle against Sandro Tonali before driving up the pitch and laying off his teammate.
Just four minutes later, Villa had a second as Newcastle's defence looked shell-shocked and practically opened up for Buendia to once again work his way into the box before firing past Dubravka. While it is only pre-season, you’d have expected a lot better from a Premier League level goalkeeper.
Newcastle did start to grow into the game after a drinks break, however, and were finally able to exploit Villa's exceedingly high line almost half an hour in. Murphy played a perfectly weighted ball over the defence to Anderson who calmly cut back in on his right foot, leaving Konsa for dead, before slotting it past Martinez.
Howe made a number of changes at half-time as Sven Botman, Jamaal Lascelles, Dan Burn, Joelinton, Javier Manquillo, Anthony Gordon, Lewis Miley, Callum Wilson and Matt Ritchie all came on with Dubravka and Targett the only players to keep their spots.
Once again Villa got off to a blistering star to a half, as Buendia bagged his brace just three minutes into the second period. Dubravka made a great save from an Omari Kellyman shot and was able to tip it onto the post, but the rebound fell perfectly to Buendia.
Newcastle responded yet again with another rebounded effort as Callum Wilson latched on to Anthony Gordon's saved shot just five minutes later. It all started thanks to a brilliant Lascelles long ball, that looked to have released his inner Schar as he picked out Gordon in the box from his own half.
Newcastle were denied what looked to be a stonewall penalty on the 57th minute after Wilson was brought down in the box with a tackle from behind, but the referee immediately waved it away. The incident looked even worse upon replay, but no VAR will be in play throughout the Summer Series.
It was all guns blazing in the second half as Buendia could have had a hat-trick about a minute later after he latched onto a long ball over the defence, but Dubravka did enough to close down the midfielder and put him off his shot which was well wide.
Yet another potential penalty was waved away on the hour mark with Gordon this time the victim of a challenge as he had his shirt pulled in the box. The MLS referee was again having none of it and waved it away.
It was then Kellyman's turn to miss a golden chance as the 17-year-old saw his first effort saved by Dubravka before his second shot was cleared off the line by Lascelles who had covered perfectly. Truly end to end stuff in Philadelphia as defending looked to be an afterthought for both sides at times.
Barnes came on to make his debut with 20 minutes to play, replacing Targett, and made almost an immediate impact with some link-up play with Gordon down the left-wing, but the move broke down due to an offside in the box.
Lascelles had made some excellent challenges and covering runs through the second half - in a game of poor defending, our captain can certainly hold his head high. The 29-year-old clearly wanted to prove that he has what it takes to be a part of this team for the upcoming season.
Barnes had a chance to make the perfect debut and win the game three minutes before full-time, but his curling effort after cutting in on the left-wing was held onto by Robin Olsen. This was the final chance of the game before the draw was confirmed and our first game in the Summer Series concluded.
Lascelles, Anderson and Miley were particular highlights of a very chaotic game with all three looking calm on the ball and making some very intelligent plays. For such a young player, Miley didn't look out of place whatsoever and has showed a lot of promise in recent months.
Up next, Newcastle will face Chelsea on Wednesday night in Atlanta before we round off our tour of the US against Brighton on Friday night in New Jersey.
STARTING XI: (4-3-3): Dubravka – Trippier, Schar, Targett, Dummett – Guimaraes, Tonali, Anderson – Almiron, Isak, Murphy.
SUBS: Karius, Darlow, Botman, Lascelles, Joelinton, Wilson, Gordon, Ritchie, Barnes, Manquillo, Ashby, Burn, Turner-Cooke, Parkinson, Miley.
