Toon collapse as top five race remains wide open - Aston Villa 4-1 Newcastle
Newcastle United's lack of squad depth was exposed on Saturday evening as Aston Villa recorded a resounding victory in a massive six-pointer for the Champions League positions.
Despite showing some moments of quality during the first 45 minutes, a very slow and lethargic start to the second half saw the team completely collapse and concede three goals in 11 minutes.
It was a nightmare start for us when Ollie Watkins saw his effort deflected off of Fabian Schar and bounce into the back of the net after just 30 seconds into the game.
Villa nearly doubled their lead only a few minutes later when Watkins again found himself in a similar position in our box, this time with his left foot, before smashing an effort onto the crossbar and giving a Newcastle a very dangerous warning.
It was a poor start to the game from Schar in particular who then received a booking for bringing down Watkins in a dangerous area as he looked set to latch onto a ball over the top of the defence.
The Swiss defender managed to redeem himself following a brilliant cross from Harvey Barnes on the left wing which Schar headed down and through the legs of Emi Martinez levelling the game up 17 minutes in.
Villa almost hit back immediately, however, with some quick play down the left which saw a ball zipped into the box from Ian Maatsen but Morgan Rodgers failed to tap home from the penalty spot.
Watkins again should have netted his second following a free-kick to the left of the box from Marco Asensio which found the head of Watkins but the England international saw his effort hit the woodwork once more.
Things had quietened down towards half-time though there was a Villa penalty appeal as Schar attempted a tackle on Watkins without touching the ball, but VAR rightly deemed that it was more Watkins making contact than the other way around.
Villa absolutely dominated the ball in the second half, though it wasn't until the hour mark when John McGinn found himself open in the box and smashed an effort at Pope who did well to save, and then again in action as Rodgers' follow up effort was straight into his hands.
The hosts finally managed to convert their dominance into a goal with an overlapping run from Maatsen who received the ball from Watkins down the left completely unmarked and fired past Pope to retake the lead.
Villa then all but confirmed the three points through an own goal from Dan Burn who was unfortunate to turn substitute Jacob Ramsey's cross into his own net after 72 minutes.
Only moments later fellow substitute Amadou Onana blasted a long-range effort into the top left corner after Pope had made a brilliant save against Rodgers, leaving the Newcastle defence completely embarrassed.
All is not doom and gloom, however, as we remain in third place for the time being with home games against Ipswich, Chelsea and Everton still to play as a well as a trip to an out-of-form Brighton team.
Thankfully, we now have a week long break after three games in seven days which really exposed our lack of options on the bench - something which massively affected us last season and will need to be addressed in the summer.
Newcastle (4-3-3): Pope – Trippier, Schar, Burn, Livramento – Guimaraes, Tonali, Joelinton – Murphy, Isak, Barnes
Subs: Dubravka, Wilson*, Gordon*, Targett*, Krafth*, Osula, Willock*, Longstaff, Miley
