Game On! Aston Villa v Newcastle

Villa Park
Villa Park
It’s back to work for both sets of players as both Newcastle United and Aston Villa look to bounce back from recent disappointing results.

It’s 17th versus 16th this evening at Villa Park as both sides eye three points that will drop the other deeper into the mire.

Neither side has been getting results and neither side is full of confidence although a recent spate of new signings at United seems to have added some renewed energy into the mix. Whether that will be enough tonight remains to be seen but United need the three points ahead of fixtures against Chelsea and Tottenham where, if you go by the form book at least, it would appear unlikely that we’d get anything from those games. Stranger things have happened though…

Up to four new faces could be making their debut for Newcastle tonight. Moussa Sissoko is likely to play but the rest may have to make do with a spot on the bench before making an appearance. However a bench with Yoan Gouffran, Mapou Yanga-Mbiwa and Massadio Haidara gives us infinitely more options than what we’ve had recently. As always, full team news will be added in at the bottom of this article as and when it becomes available.

Unfortunately we aren’t on TV either, at least not here in the UK anyway, which means that a lot of people are going to be after a stream of the game. Not one to encourage this behaviour of course, but I can’t really stop people posting links to good streams in the ‘comments’ section below. Ahem…

Which just about wraps it up. It will be interesting to see how our new faces do this evening although I’m hopeful that the team as a whole decides to turn up tonight. Time is running out and we need to average over a point a game (1.267 actually) to make sure we hit that supposedly magical 40 point mark that is deemed as enough to keep a team safe from relegation.

Howay the lads!

Aston Villa: Guzan; Clark, Vlaar (c) Baker; Lowton, Westwood, Bannan, N’Zogbia, Bennett; Benteke, Bent

Subs:Given, Lichaj, Holman, Bowery, Ireland, Agbonlahor, Weimann.

Newcastle: Krul; Debuchy, S.Taylor, Coloccini (c), Santon; Perch, Cabaye; Gouffran, Sissoko, Gutierrez; Cisse.

Subs:Harper, Yanga-Mbiwa, Williamson, Bigirimana, Anita, Sammy Ameobi, Shola Ameobi

About toonsy

A lifelong Newcastle fan and current webmaster of this very 'blog who has the sole aim of creating a place by Newcastle United fans, for Newcastle United fans.

490 thoughts on “Game On! Aston Villa v Newcastle

  1. ….got fkn king praahns in mi pack lunch the morra like. Nen of this Aldi ***** neitha. Fkn Lidl’s finest. 😎

    …sprinkiling of paprika, a twist of black pepper, a few squirts of of Hellboy’s mayo (from the jar), bit of rocket, and a few slices of tomato.

    (or Fakin Tomaayy-doe, for our American viewers) 😎

    Yum yum. 😛

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  2. Kim @ 354 he’s away to get ready for bed, he asked me what a toyboy was , and was in stitches 😀 and was wanting to ask you if you fancied Cabs 😆 but I had to refrain him

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  3. I can’t go through many more like that ,it kills me .Pards obsession with Jonas is really starting to concern me now though ,it’s getting beyond a joke.

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  4. So we played like a nevous team in the second half, but wtf are Villla like ? They ahve just lost to lower league teams in the cup, have a half a team made up of young sprogs, and they absolutley battered us in the second half.

    Apart from the two goals we never created a chance. In the second half we were shocking going forward.

    The luck which deserted us against Reading was on our side tonight. Young Timmy mom by a mile.

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  5. Dave @377 😆 😆 😆 😆 ,I hope you put it delicately ,wouldn’t want to be a part of his corruption . 😉

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  6. I now need a new settee , me **** has chewed this one to bits after watching that second half . Still 3 points nearer to safety , dont know why Marveaux or Obby were not on the bench and Sammy was but those 2 and HBA when fit will make a massive difference in these games . Onwards and Upwards from now on My motm would be Colo he was the old Colo tonight .

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  7. well, calmed down now…

    1) Sissoko looked class
    2) Gauffran looked half decent
    3) Cisse will score if you give him the ball to feet in the box
    4) Cabaye is either great or **** in equal measures, no inbetween.

    then

    1) Jonas and Shola, well thats its I’m afraid, you aint good enough
    2) Santon needs to learn to watch his winger, hammered today
    3) we had 10 men behind the ball again 2nd half and wondered why it came back over and over again.
    4) soft pen, but Debuchy should know not to push him over.

    bar that 3 points, (5 wins and 1 draw to go)….

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  8. MM ,agree Krul was **** hot tonight , special mention to our Newbies too who all impressed I thought.

    Anyone else think that pen was highly debatable 😕 look like a dive to me .

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  9. @368 I’m with you. Krul saved us a hammering today – MOTM. Top drawer skill displayed. Sent the wrong way for the pen and missed the last ball in but otherwise a cracking effort.

    I really liked Anita again today as a sub. Should be playing instead of Perch. Marveaux instead of Jonas as well but if injured then not sure who else in for Jonas. Not convinced by Obertan. Perhaps Obertan first with Jonas coming in as sub.

    Glad Cisse scored but I certainly hope he doesn’t get injured.

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  10. The fact people are calling for Obertan to start ahead of Jonas ahould tell you how **** Jonas is 😀

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  11. kid how can you say that about saylor 1st bgame gac and he was solid ❓

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  12. A few more observations. My favourite hobby horse of Santon being a weak defender stands. Shall be interested in how our new import does as he needs competition.

    Sissoko provided creativity which was needed. The other new boy mixed up the sides nicely which drew defenders in all sorts of directions and gave Cisse space.

    Thought Taylor had a solid game. Debuchy needs to be careful as he may get a reputation a la Tiote. Cabaye treads that line very well.

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  13. Someone needs to tell me what thte toons tactics were for that last 15 minutes, because it was absolutely *****. pUT THE STATUE OF Shola Ameobi up front, and play everyone else behind the ball. Fielding a team of internationals….shocking…

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  14. Can somebody with tactics brains explain what Pardew was trying to do with the subs today? Not taking shots here, I legitimately don’t understand.

    I came home from work, having missed the first half, turned on the game to see that soft penalty and have no idea how we won that game.

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  15. Batty@389, agreed, he stood up well to the aerial bombardment. Not bad for his first game back. Collo also put in a superb effort. 3 of the back 5 were excellent. The two full backs were both wobbling at times.

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  16. Also if i was colour blind i could have thought we were playing stoke tonight. Nothing but long balls and dirty tackles.

    Villa going down i cant wait.

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  17. Some of us were wondering if Debuchy will get caught out of position a lot when making those marauding runs. Any evidence either way tonight? In the second half, he seemed camped at home, like everybody, and I thought the penalty was soft.

    Also, is Santon opening himself up to the same criticism–being out of position and not defending enough? Did he contribute a lot getting forward in the 1st half?

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  18. Also, is there any doubt that we still need a CF? With all our forwards fit, Big Shola, it seems, should not be on the field… but he, Papiss and Goufran, well, they are all our forwards.

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  19. Finally, wtf was Pardew doing with the subs! Ameobi was wrong. Anita in first was the obvious choice. We lost all first third threat with Ameobi up front with Jonas and Cisse supporting. Gash. Only Anita was pressing up front at the end with Ameobi jogging in circles.

    Having said that I thought Pardew set the team out well. I think he chose the right newbies to start – despite the reputation you need a central defender to train with the team at least a week or two to learn the system. Maybe next match.

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  20. FSOTC; you wouldn’t have recognised the toon from the first half. We were excellent as a unit going forward, and Santon had a really good first half.
    The blocked Santon’s attacking in the second half, pumped up the volume and overpowered us in midfield.

    Thank goodness for the three points 👿

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  21. Lol Rodz we were no where near as bad as them and Krul does it the most for us.

    @FSOTC Think all 4 of the defenders were good tonight few mistakes by each but not to costly. The penalty for me was a dive. He falls trying to stay in the box and everything.

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  22. @392: Reverted to hoofball unfortunately, so Shola was stuck up front as a target man, who then just ended up in central midfield anyway.

    Think the other two were because the new lads were cream crackered. Although really Anita should have come on for Jonas.

    @393: Glad to be of service (i think) 😯

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  23. Batty

    I haven’t said Taylor was bad tonight. He was part of a solid(for the most part) back line today.

    However, like I have already said, Yanga M’Biwa is a class above Taylor. It’s just the truth. You will all agree by the end of the season.

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  24. Sometimes you can’t win with substitutions. This appears to be one of those occasions. Agree Jonas should have gone off, but for who?
    Every single manager out there would have put Shola on. In the past he has won a few more headers, granted it was awful today.
    The thought of Cisse getting injured is a worry – we need to find the balance of someone who doesn’t mind sitting on the bench though.

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  25. I only managed to get back from work to see the last 35 minutes, so excuse me if I’m a little pessimistic after watching that. From what I saw…. I thought Pardew’s substitutions were all over the place. If anybody was to go off then it was surely the ‘undroppable’ Guttierez. He never had much going forward since championship level but now he has little defensive impact as well. The game simply passes him by these days. He was an obvious candidate to go off. He took off Perch for Ameobi, which was quite strange for the negative manager to do until the awful reality of his plan hit you in the face and you realised what was happening. Ameobi was playing like a CB for a lot of the time. Then he put Mbwia on to play as another CB! I couldn’t understand what he was thinking. Every time we got the ball we just hoofed it out (straight back to Villa to pump it back into the box) or we knocked it back to their CB or goalkeeper (straight back to Villa to pump it back into the box) why couldn’t we just keep it and play triangles for a bit? Same old Pardew team, hoofing the ball back again and again, eventually the other team will score, except on this occassion when we came up against the only team in the league that is even poorer and more unlucky than us. At least 3 times I can think of they had absolute clear cut chances to level it.

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  26. @ 396, Santon was overlapping slightly but not caught out of position as much as the last three games. Goufran and Sissoko would both provide outlets for Jonas so Santon was less advanced I think.

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  27. Santon should play left side mid in place of Jonas and our new left back should be given a go, Santon worries me at the back, ok going forward.

    or ( and I know this is going to sound bad after his performance today) but maybe Jonas should move to left back now, hes **** anywhere else.

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  28. To be fair, perhaps the 10 man bus approach may be what was needed for our team’s quivering nerves during the final 15 minutes?

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  29. A lot better than what we’ve had to watch for quite a while, especially that first half. Both Sissoko and Gouffran looked decent. Beautiful pass from Sissoko for the first goal. I’m trying to be fair but again Jonas looks very slow and sluggish. Why not start Anita in his place? Why put Mbiwa in front of the defensive 4 with 15 minutes remaining? He looked unsure of himself and his role at such a crucial time. A strange place to start with us. Shola didn’t have much of an impact we still kept losing the ball too easily in the second half. All in all though very relieved to get that first away win and 3 points. 😆

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  30. Kid I wouldn’t put too much on Mbiwa’s shoulders as we know how long it took Colo to get into the swing of things, so for you to say that Mbiwa is a class above, and that Taylor isn’t fit to lace his boots well thats in your opinion, but to me that’s just ridiculous maybe you shouldn’t let your hatred of him blind you 😉

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  31. agree dave @412 but not many southern fans think he is .and also think we should play like barca 😉

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  32. We seemed to completely lose our composure in the second half and the subs didn’t really help. Why keep Jonas on there? He seems so clumsy and out of shape now. Don’t understand Pardew’s thinking there at all. Have to say we really do need another striker. I was disappointed with that second half. Chelsea will be a much different prospect. I don’t thind we look ready for them. Lots of worries ahead for Pardew but that was a huge 3 points.

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  33. GEORDIETWO @410
    ‘Why put Mbiwa in front of the defensive 4 with 15 minutes remaining? He looked unsure of himself and his role at such a crucial time. A strange place to start with us.’

    Totally agree. I don’t think he has a clue what he’s doing… if I’m honest. 😕

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  34. Big Dave

    Thing is, I have watched a lot of M’Biwa for Montpelier, you clearly haven’t. Therefore I feel I am better placed to compare the two.

    Ask anyone who knows their European/French football about M’Biwa.

    Ask them who is better out of him and Steven Taylor (Only rated by Toon fans). I am not even debating it. Gulf in class.

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  35. @ The Kid

    Agree. Mbiwa will be our best defender once he has settled but Pardew doesn’t like to drop players that aren’t playing badly. Taylor didn’t do to much wrong tonight so i cant see it happening until one of the two (Taylor & Coloccini) has a shi**y game.

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  36. …we’ve just made very good use of 3 nudges on the NUFC fruit machine. 😯

    Jonas on the right
    Sissoko in the middle
    Goofy on the left

    I reckon we’ve finally got strength in depth now like (apart from another CF). We have a squad built up of ‘utility players’.

    Fair play.

    HTFL 😈

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  37. Batts 😉 yeah im going to get something to eat as a happy man 😆

    But as I touched on earlier if Villa keep playing like that they won’t go down, ok I thought they were dirty bastads but they fought like lions for every ball

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  38. Aye DJG even with the incoming I’m worried about Pardew. He seems shaky in the second half of games and makes some strange subs. I don’t think he started our strongest side either. As many predicted he started Jonas, for what reason I can’t say? Jonas has lost his effectiveness along with his fitness as far as I can tell. He needs to be on the bench now that we have a stronger side. Where was Marveaux as well? He must be injured as I didn’t see him on the bench.

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  39. The Kid @ 418 I wouldn’t even waste my time debating it with you, but as I said thats your opinion and everyone has their own, and my opinion is that you have made it quite clear in the past that you don’t like or rate Saylor so it would be a waste of time, but I do know a few supporters of other teams that like me also think Saylor is a good CB.
    I have always been vocal that the club should bring in a Top CB that is as good or better than our 2 first choice CB’s so if Mbiwa is that guy which I think he might be then i’ll be as happy as a pig in **** 😉

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  40. 😀 yep DJG agreed, I was trying to be constructive for a change, but thinking about it Anita should have been there today in place of jonas in the starting 11, cant think why he wasn’t, the rest seemed about right to me, but would like to see mbawia in the starting 11 too.

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  41. 1 3pts
    2 the new lads all got on the pitch
    3 Cisse scored
    4 we won away from home.
    5 we withstood a 2nd half onslaught.
    6 Krul & Colo performed
    7 Confidence is no longer rock bottom
    8 the fans are still not happy.

    The difference between the 1st & 2nd halves was Villas tactics. 3 at the back did not work for them.

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  42. Have to say Colo played a very good game and was huge at the back for us. He has shown he will continue to commit to playing well no matter what is happening in his personal life. Hats off to him. He’s being paid well enough but I’ve seen many a player turn into a useless sulker.

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  43. …what the **** did Jonas do wrong tonight anyway?
    I thought he fought like a fkn Trojan, as usual, and also contributed to a goal.

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  44. Good points Premandup @429, a win is a win. We’ll snatch it while we can. It may be different against Chelsea but we have to celebrate while we can. Hate to think of Ba lining up against us.

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  45. PREMANDUP
    I thought Krul was slow to react to long balls coming into the box from far away (long hung-up balls in the air that took ages to drop) he seemed scared of that Neanderthal they have at CF. He needs to toughen up and be more of a hairy **** GK. He is too much of a wimp at times. You want your keeper to come for those long hung-up balls in the air that take half an hour to drop. Elliott would have come out and flattened the guy IMO. 🙂 Just come out and punch.

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  46. I think I aged 10 years in that second half but happy with the final result. Lots of positives but have to agree with the majority that Jonas should not be playing. New guys all look good. Onwards and upwards!!

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  47. Thanks Rodz. Maybe they will do us a favour and stick Torres out there against us instead! 😆

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  48. @lee_ryder #nufc do you know who this is. at the nuffield today having a medical? pic.twitter.com/ysvHyaGJ

    Any one seen this haha, people rekon its Doumbia, personally i think its a random guy waiting for a check up

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  49. For ****’s sake Cologne-Toon, you’ve got to be either:

    a) taking the ****
    b) don’t know what the **** you’re talking about
    C) Spiderman’s arch-enemy

    😛 😆 😯 😀

    SPIDERMAN
    SPIDERMAN
    Does all the things that Jonas can. 😎

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  50. “Defence still looks suspect to me.”

    Can’t believe Jonas and Perch are in! They’re woeful.”

    My comments above @24 before the game. Right on both scores.

    Debuchy = suspect; Saylor = suspect; Santon = suspect. Colo and especially Krul held it together while Pardew lost his nerve. 😳

    Gouffran = intelligent use of space and looks clever and energetic
    Sissoko = quality first half

    I said it before the game that Shola is an embarrassment. What was he doing strolling so deep? If Cisse gets injured, we’re in deep *****. Brilliant first goal, and I could not see Michael’s grannny taking up that position; no way Michael!

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  51. I said it before the game that Blackley & Brownley are from the future, and despite his singular moniker is two people both talking ***** at the same time; thus evening out into a level opinion. 😎

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  52. “Can i know where was Santon in this action???”HBA39 😆

    “It seems that Debuchy doesn’t know that Agbonlahor is proabbly one of the quickest player in the premier league” 😆

    “Jonas is the biggest **** in this team, the quickest he will seat in the bench, better Newcastle united wil be.” 😆

    “I really have more than enough with Jonas, we cannot call him anymore as a football player i think” 😆

    “OBertan is not a threat for anyone, you can let him alone he will go until the line and after loose the ball. So i dont understand the guys who call for Obertan. I dont want neither Obertan or Jonas in this team. I have seen enough of this guys.” 😆

    HBA39 – English may not be your first language but I couldn’t have put it better myself. 😆

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  53. I can feel we will climb the ladder now….. as we will get something out this weekend… defence looked strong and having a new midfield who can hold the ball and play will give any team problems… like last season we scored early and were composed at the back…..

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  54. Max T “The defence looked strong!?” That’s because it comprised 11 players thanks to Pards. 😳

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