7500 To Holte

Newcastle vs. Aston Villa, Match Review: Cisse Wondergoal, Momentary Lapses Sink Villa

2012-02-05T21:28:19Z

In any loss, you can point to a moment or two of poor play and brush aside any claims that the effort was good enough to deserve better; that was certainly the case today, be it Demba Ba left unmarked by Carlos Cuellar in front of goal or Richard Dunne whiffing a chance to clear and letting the ball fall to Papiss Demba Cisse. Two goals that could have been prevented, and it turned out to be all that the home side needed to take three points. But you could find moments like that in every game for either side, and ultimately Villa's efforts today deserved more. This was a very frustrating loss on the heels of a very frustrating draw, but it was frustrating in large part because it took two tremendous individual efforts from Newcastle strikers to nullify a strong performance from a severely weakened Villa side.

Villa yet again came out playing a very high-pressure style early on, sitting medium-deep in defense and looking to force errors and spring counter-attacks in midfield. It's something they've been doing for a little while now, (especially playing away) and I'm a big fan of the approach; it's not something you'd want to do for 90 minutes with this personnel, but it's been successful in throwing the opposition off of their game and keeping them from controlling the pace early on. It kept Newcastle from getting into any sort of rhythm in the attack, but Villa wasn't able to get much going early on in their own right and the result was a quarter-hour or so of fast-paced, chaotic pinball more or less. Eventually things settled down a but and Villa ended up in control of things for the most part, but the home side's superb defense ensured keeper Tim Krul didn't have much to worry about.

Newcastle then illustrated why they're generally content to settle back and let the opposition hang onto the ball for a bit when they unleashed a flurry of counter-attacking play that instantly changed the mood of the game. Demba Ba's acrobatic finish of a deflected Ryan Taylor effort (during the course of which the winger appeared to sustain a serious leg injury) gave the home side a lead that seemed miles away just a few minutes prior, and Newcastle would continue to threaten for the remainder of the half. The roles reversed pretty quickly, but the Villa defense never looked as comfortable with the hatches battened down as Newcastle's did, and the Toon were very close to grabbing a second and effectively killing the game off before the interval despite Villa having a fairly strong first half-hour.

And then it was Villa's turn to grab a goal seemingly out of nowhere. And given that it was a goal that came seemingly out of nowhere, who else but Robbie Keane to score it? He and Charles N'Zogbia combined brilliantly for a lightning-quick counter attack that stunned seemingly everyone in attendance at St James' Park, including most of the men in claret and blue. Robbie Keane's loan deal has been an undeniable success, and while that's a wonderful thing the realization that he's going to be gone in just a few weeks is rightly beginning to make quite a few people nervous. (Particularly me, seeing as how he'll be returning to my beloved Seattle Sounders' biggest roadblock to an MLS title.) But seeing what a player like Keane brings to the team should at the very least make it undeniable what kind of signing Alex McLeish ought to make his top priority in the summer.

The second half began with some heart-in-throat moments, Villa's defense very nearly giving up another goal less than a minute after the game resumed. That gave everyone a pretty decent idea of what was to come, as the latter 45 minutes were as breathless and entertaining as any that I can recall Villa taking part in all season. It was as though both managers saw three points for the taking and said "to hell with it" at half time. Before things kicked off there was plenty of reason to think this would be something of a drab affair, but nothing could have been further from the truth. It was a sloppy, chaotic mess a lot of the time but I'll be damned if it wasn't fun to watch, and though it's obviously quite a shame that Newcastle had to be the side to grab the winner it was as fitting a winner this game could have asked for; the lead up to and execution of Cisse's side-footed half-volley was the perfect blend of sloppy defending, (un) fortunate bounces, sublime skill and sheer dumb luck. People that follow both the Premier League and Bundesliga closely were effusive in their praise of Pardew's signing of Cisse; today he showed everyone why.

Villa continued to push right up until the end, but it wasn't to be. It was another strong performance marred by a few frustrating mistakes. Frustrating because it feels like yet another missed opportunity, but Newcastle shouldn't be sold short; Alan Pardew has done a tremendous job rebuilding that squad, and as it stands they're just a point shy of the Champions League and a solid bet to at the very least give Europa a go next season. The time has long since passed that the Toon's place in the table could be reliably chalked up to luck or strength of schedule. Newcastle is just really a very good team, and thanks to the addition of Cisse look in a position to take a step towards becoming even better next season. There's a difference between frustrating and disappointing, and today was the former. What is disappointing is that Villa spent so much of the season pissing around and dropping points, because the team we've seen in 2012 is better than 13th in the league. It's tempting to think that if Gabby Agbonlahor or Mark Albrighton had been available today things may have turned out differently.

Of course, if rumors of Charles N'Zogbia being unhappy or Stephen Ireland flinging f-bombs at his notoriously touchy and disciplinarian manager are true, these frustrating results in spite of strong performances may end up being the highlight of the 2012 portion of this season. If there's one thing I know about Villa, its the tendency of thing to just kind of up and explode into a fiery ball of flames just when it looked like they might be turning around.

Just When You Thought Things Couldn't Get Worse: Charles N'Zogbia Not Happy Playing Football

2012-02-05T18:18:11Z

Charles N'Zogbia must've realized that his tweet was foolish as soon as he pushed the "send" button, and deleted it immediately, but Aston Villa supporters who had their eyes on Twitter caught this anyway:

Well, let's see. Villa lost a lead to Arsenal to get knocked out of the FA Cup. Stupid defensive errors meant only a draw was possible against QPR. And today, despite the heroics of Robbie Keane, the team couldn't manage even a point against Newcastle.

But is N'Zogbia upset with the team performance, or is he on the outs with Alex McLeish? We've already seen the midfielder be punished for not obeying the rules, when he skipped out on a medical appointment. Then today, despite looking just fine in the claret and blue, non-Sir pulled N'Zogbia for...Emile Heskey.

Sure, it would make sense if Villa ever managed to score off a set piece. Heskey is, well, Heskey-sized, while N'Zogbia certainly is not. But most supporters questioned the logic of the switch. This tweet, combined with the rumors that Stephen Ireland blew up at halftime today, don't bode well for the Villa dressing room...

Newcastle Vs. Aston Villa: Lineups, Open Match Thread

2012-02-05T12:50:11Z

I've been admiring the snow and watching Mad Men all morning, so I am way too tired from all this excitement to create one of those pretty little charts that typically go at the top of our open threads. Sorry guys -- blame Aaron for his internet being out.

The Magpies are perfect in all competitions thus far in 2012 -- could it be the Villa that manage to end that streak? Or will we see the same humiliation we saw in Newcastle last season? It's been put forward that Newcastle is "almost in Scotland" and therefore we supporters should be optimistic. And no, it doesn't matter that a Scot was leading in that horrible defeat, because it wasn't snowing then. Very well. Here are your lineups:

Newcastle Starting XI: Tim Krul; Danny Simpson, Mike Williamson, Fabricio Coloccini, Davide Santon; Ryan Taylor, Danny Guthrie, James Perch, Jonas Gutierrez; Leon Best, Demba Ba

Newcastle Bench: Rob Elliot, Shane Ferguson, Dan Gosling, Hatem Ben Arfa, Gabriel Obertan, Shola Ameobi, Papiss Cisse.

Aston Villa Starting XI: Shay Given; Alan Hutton, Carlos Cuellar, Richard Dunne, Stephen Warnock; Charles N'Zogbia, Stephen Ireland, Stiliyan Petrov, Ciaran Clark; Darren Bent, Robbie Keane. (arrange these as you like)

Villa Bench: Brad Guzan, Andreas Weimann, Gary Gardner, Barry Bannan, Nathan Baker, Eric Lichaj, Emile Heskey.

Newcastle vs. Aston Villa, Preview: Please, Stop Mentioning 6-0

2012-02-05T07:40:31Z

Some questions we'll just never know the answer to: Why does Emile Heskey get so much playing time? Why did the BBC revamp their football site into something entirely unusable? And why do Aston Villa and Newcastle always play the early match on Sunday?

Another fun question to answer: Why is the Newcastle - Villa preview so damn late? Sorry, guys, but the answer is simply that I am terribly lazy and was hoping someone else could write it. But after a break yesterday in which I didn't watch one minute of football, I'm feeling itchy, ready for a return of the Villa.

We've already talked about how, although the QPR result was disappointing, for the most part, the team played well. Same with the Arsenal match. If the Villa could just stop having major defensive meltdowns -- for these are not errors, but meltdowns -- they might actually pick up some points.

One reason to be optimistic: The BBC notes that Villa have recovered a league-high 11 points from losing positions this season -- contrast that with last season, where the team was doing the exact opposite. Of course, there's also that matter of 6-0 hanging over the team's head. Will it work in the Villa favor?

In some not so good news, it seems Papiss Cisse will be handed his Newcastle debut on Sunday, having just returned from the Africa Cup of Nations with Senegal. Yes, because Villa really seem to like players with the last name "Cisse" who are debuting against the claret and blues. Demba Ba is also back. Oh yay!

On the Villa side, Marc Albrighton is still out with injury (boooooooo) while James Collins continues to struggle with an "ankle problem." Or perhaps just a "being terrible at defense" problem. That should mean we'll see Carlos Cuellar in the center of defense, but something tells me that unless Stephen Warnock gets hit by a meteor, he'll continue to be at left-back. Sigh. Oh, and Gabby Agbonlahor's likely out, too. Double sigh.

But we have Robbie Keane! And for once, I'm not being sarcastic!

Your rare northern soul video of the day. Not much going on Villa-wise what with a Sunday...

2012-02-04T09:31:50Z

Your rare northern soul video of the day.

Not much going on Villa-wise what with a Sunday matchday, so please enjoy this very lovely northern soul video.

Our Long National Nightmare Is Over

2012-02-02T19:40:39Z

Habib Beye has left Aston Villa by mutual consent.

The 34-year-old defender will now be parking his Ferrari at the Keepmoat for the foreseeable future, as his emergency loan to Doncaster Rovers will now become a permanent move. Beye was signed from Newcastle United prior to the 2009-10 season for a transfer fee around £2.5m to a three-year deal. His wages are reported to be in excess of £40k/week. The resources expended on Beye coupled with his inability to break into the team (and disastrously bad play when he did) have led to him becoming a symbol of the financial irresponsibility engaged in by the club during Martin O'Neill's time in charge.

Watching Beye on the pitch, it's hard to believe he was once a key player for Marseille. Beye's decline phase came quickly, and it seemingly coincided with his putting pen to paper on his deal with Aston Villa. In all, Beye made 18 appearances (with 15 starts) in all competitions over his two-and-a-half year Villa career. None of them were good. All of them were expensive. Perhaps the amount of the stick Beye has gotten these past few years is out of step with how much he actually deserves, but he is by many accounts a nasty prick of a man and I'm sure the £6.5m he's been paid by Aston Villa should offer some solace.

Farewell, Habib Beye. I do not wish you the best of luck, and you will most certainly not be missed.

Habib Beye Leaves Villa

2012-02-02T18:56:41Z

Habib Beye Leaves Villa

Ceeeeelebration! We gonna celebrate and have a good time

Future Villa

2012-02-02T03:00:11Z

While watching the match today some harrowing thoughts went through my mind. (These thoughts happened before the two Villa goals, but I think this is relevant anyway.)

Someone I follow on Twitter, retweeted something about where you will be in five years. I'll probably have died from a bear tranquilizer overdose. (In lieu of flowers, send puppies!) (Just kidding no I won't.) (No I won't?)But this got me to thinking about Villa. Where the hell will the Villa be in five years?

Under Houllier, I could see the direction we were going in. Houllier playing the youth, and he was changing the way in which Villa played, and was bringing in players to suit the system. (I miss you, Jean.) And he had started to get rid of the MON dead weight. (Sup, Steve Sidwell.) His unfortunate health problems and subsequent resignation essentially put an end to all of that.

Especially considering who his replacement end up being. The who part about losing Ashley Young and Stewart Downing didn't help either. But McLeish has seemingly slammed on the breaks and u-turned. I'm not saying it was necessarily a bad thing. It's just different.

And while today's match showed the slight improvement that we've seen recently, judging by the overall results this season, we do seem to be going downhill. I get that McLeish doesn't have much money to work with, but he spent some of that on Alan Hutton. While the rest of the summer signing have worked out ok, (I'm not counting Jenas.) if this is any indication of the type of player McLeish wants to sign, we will be going downhill soon.

But we are in a state of waiting, for lack of a better word. Waiting for all these crappy MON contracts to get off the books, so we can not sign the Habib Beyes of the world. But if we are going to sign the Alan Huttons of the world, I don't want McLeish in charge during that period.

As much as I would to stop messing with the club by bringing in another new manager, I'm not sure McLeish should be there.

Which brings me to the point. Where will Villa be in five years? My hope is that, a) we either get a new manager, or b) McLeish uses the money on slightly better players. (And maybe even looks outside the British Isles.) Even if he keeps playing the way he has been, I can deal with fairly boring football if were winning.

But my guess is that, in 5 years, we'll have a new manager. But still be sitting mid-table, still treading water. That may be because this season has disheartened me. But I can't see us dropping down further in five years, as I don't think Lerner will let us sign players to absurd contracts like what we have now. But I also can't see us challenging for the title or anything.

So. Where do you think Villa will be in five years? And who knows maybe I'll dig up this article in five years and see if anyone's right. If I don't get hooked on bear tranquilizers that is.