1 good, 4 bad from Newcastle 0-2 Aston Villa

Newcastle United deservedly lost 2-0 to Aston Villa on Sunday afternoon, in a game which laid bare the disparity between the two sides and the Head Coaches.

Bruno Guimaraes missing via injury always had the potential to kill the game before it kicked off, and so it turned out to be on an afternoon where Newcastle were completely one dimensional and maintained the diabolical record of never having won a league game when the Brazilian has been absent.

Villa’s goals came via an Emi Buendia long range banger and a late Ollie Watkins header at the back post.

Here are four bad from the game:

Bad: Soundly beaten by the better team

As much as it pains me to say, United were beaten by the better team on Sunday, so much so that it was barely even a contest after Sandro Tonali missed a glorious chance in the opening minutes of the game.

From that moment forward, United were clearly second best, and hardly mustered a dangerous effort worth the name and seemed to fall for every bit of housery Villa served up as they played the referee like a fiddle and Emery outcoached Howe with consummate ease.

Villa looked confident, dangerous, and defended us with such ease you wondered whether United had put out an under 15’s side, such was the cakewalk with which they saw the game out, and not for the first time this season, Eddie Howe seemed to have no answer in the face of what was a clearly an incredibly well coached side with talented players well beyond what we could put out on the pitch on Sunday.

Bad: No plan B (again)

Once Villa went 1-0 up, and with time dwindling away, it stood out like a blaring neon sign that United had no plan B and no way back into the game as we simply couldn’t offer up anything different other than what we had served up in the preceding 85 minutes.

When our plan A works (and I’ll freely admit it hasn’t worked much this season) it is brilliant to watch, but when it doesn’t work, we look laboured, tired and lacking in any sort of ideas beyond the creaking plan A.

And with six out of the next seven matches away from home (mixed with our horrendous away form) our season could be dead by the time March rolls around, as we just don’t seem to be able to muster any sort of gameplan beyond the failing plan A.

Good: Big Sven Botman

Few in black and white came out of yesterday's game with any credit, but Sven Botman was not in that category.

He delivered a few shaky displays earlier this month, leaving some to question the long-term effects of his injury woes and a new contract, but he was rock solid for the second time in a week against a dynamic Villa attack.

The big Dutchman was strong in the air, dominated most of his duels, won a few vital 50/50 challenges (showing a decent turn of pace to do so against Morgan Rogers) and pinged some nice passes from deep.

Thiaw and Botman have the makings of a top quality centre-back pairing and it's good to see the former Lille man back looking something close to his best again. Long may that continue.

Bad: Another awful refereeing performance

Let’s be clear for the tourist Villa fans reading this; the refereeing performance wasn’t the reason we lost that game, Villa were the superior side in every way, however the referee was an absolute joke.

To allow Onana to foul five times without a booking when he booked Joelinton after one foul was a joke. Tielemans should’ve been booked for persistent fouling but wasn’t, and the ref swallowed every little, tiny bit of housery Villa served up on the afternoon, especially Emi Martinez’s ridiculous time wasting and faning of injury.

Let me be further clear; what frustrates me most is that we used to use those tactics in 2022/23 but we’ve since gone completely soft, letting sides run roughshod all over us. On Sunday we wilted in the face of opposition pressure mixed with a spineless, subservient refereeing performance which played into their housery all afternoon.

Jared Gillet is one of the worst referees in this league hands down, he’s a weak wet wipe who should be nowhere near a Sunday league match let alone elite Premier League football.

Bad: No ideas, no confidence, no momentum

After the game, I was flabbergasted to learn that United apparently had 2.30 xG, as it really didn’t feel like that watching the game from the stands as we just seemed to be chasing shadows for the entire match.

Emi Martinez made two decent saves at 1-0 but United just looked completely devoid of any ideas, any confidence, and momentum has once again been killed this season before it’s even really had a chance to get going. Throw in the fact that United couldn’t register a shot on target in the second half and it almost couldn’t have been a worse result.

Additionally, that was a Villa side missing Kamara and McGinn in midfield, yet they were just a cut above all afternoon and very much looked like a side who are chasing a title, whereas we just looked like what we are, a mid-table side who are one of a large pack, a much of muchness, ordinary, who will probably finish well below where we need to in order to hold onto all of our best players this summer.

 

Just the small matter of PSG next…

 

Keep the faith. HWTL