Aston Villa way off the mark in 4-0 loss to Newcastle
All momentum captured by Aston Villa in a therapeutic 4-0 victory over Brentford on October 23 totally disappeared on Saturday afternoon in an embarrassing 4-0 loss at Newcastle.
After an evenly-contested first half–capped off with Newcastle’s Callum Wilson converting on a penalty six minutes into injury time–Villa imploded in the second period as the Magpies ran rampant.
Quickfire goals by Willson and Joelinton in the 56th and 59th minutes, respectively, put the hosts ahead 3-0, and Miguel Almiron’s FIFA-esque 67th minute goal provided the icing on the cake.
Defender Tyrone Mings told VillaTV after the defeat: “I think we were in the game for large spells, obviously we know what it’s going to be like coming here, it’s a very difficult place to come.
“But after last week, full of belief, full of confidence, we felt like we could cause them problems.”
Caretaker manager Aaron Danks, who sought to preserve his 100% win record at Newcastle, added: “I’m disappointed with the end result and disappointed for the supporters, who I thought were magnificent; they traveled a long way and backed us through the whole game.
“The penalty changes the game slightly and definitely changes your half-time team talk because you’re going to talk about ways of staying in the game and winning the second half.”
Newcastle 4-0 Aston Villa
In the first half Villa had a few good chances in front of goal but failed to take advantage of them. Emi Buendia’s opportunity in the 23rd minute, in which he took an extra touch deep in the Newcastle box and saw his attempt blocked, stands out.
But it was all downhill after Wilson’s penalty goal. An energized Newcastle side proved too much for Villa, who are still stuck in this awkward in-between-managers headspace.
The tactics and teachings of Steven Gerrard are still fresh in the minds of the players, and against a Newcastle group that is the in-form side in the Premier League, good vibes accumulated against Brentford were not enough to catapult Villa to a second-straight win.
Villa attackers strung together a few good combinations and threatened at times, but Almiron, Joelinton, and Wilson ran riot and defenders were not up to task.
Adding insult to injury, keeper Emi Martinez left the match in the first half with a head injury. He now appears to be OK, saying on social media that he’ll be ready for next week’s match, but overall it was a disaster afternoon for the Villa.
New manager Unai Emery starts on Tuesday. He’s certainly got his work cut out for him.
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