Sun 23rd May - Aston Villa 1 Newcastle 0

[trophy4toon]

Being the resident expert on Villa. They are a powerfull team but struggle to break teams down at home. I doubt there will be any end of season feel to them as they want to finish above Everton and finish the season on a high as they have had a poor run of late. However they struggle to break teams down at home.

That said after attending the Newcastle v Middlesbrough match which despite the euphoria of victory, we could easily have lost. I would say this Newcatle team is totallly disfunctional in midfield and frankly could not be relied upon to get any points anywhere in the Premier League.

I hope I'm wrong but I see us going down with a whimper:

Aston Villa 1 Newcastle 0

Well here is my prediction for the game.

Villa have been poor at home this season and have gained many more points away from Villa Park. But I can't see this Newcastle team getting anything from this match. Anyone else feeling more optimistic 

[mrmalaki]

I reckon we could get a point and then Hull lose to United. We've still got a chance! Keep the Faith!

[trophy4toon]

Yes, agreed Mrmalaki all is not lost, we still have a chance.

The way to play Villa is to sit deep so they can't use the pace of Agbonlahor and Young to spring you open. They really struggle to break teams down and are susceptable to goals on the break.

Villa are also very weary from a long hard season which started for them on the 19th July in the Inter Toto Cup.

So similar tactics to what we used against Middlesbrough by using Owen and Gutierrez to help hold the match and then bring on the pace of Martins and Levenkrams for the last 25 minutes as Villa tire will be our best hope of a result at Villa Park.   

[mrmalaki]

I say screw the big guns they have shown they don't have the fight in them to survive!
Give Krul a go in goal! Give Edgar, Kadar & Tozer a game with Beye to Captain the back four. Give Donniger a game in midfield (i'm sure there must be a couple of the other academy and reserves that are itching and would give their weaker foot to get in the starting line up - but he's the only one I know of)
Give Ranger and Danquah a go up front!

These kids will have something to fight for! Plus if they do well they could be in line for a pay rise and a run in the first team next year! The liklihood is that any money we lose from dropping down a division won't stop going to the first team it'll stop going to the academy! So much motivation for them that they will most likely play better than any first team players we have at the moment!

I'd love to see Shearer do that and I'd love it even more if those kids proved me right!

[Legzy]

I'm with Mr Malaki, give it to the youth team

[CraigDoyle]

Problems ahead with the selection.

Banned: Bassong, Barton
Injured: Carroll (ankle ligaments), Beye (hamstring), Enrique (doubtful), Owen (maybe)

Beye is looking at injections to see if he can get himself through the game and honestly that would be a massive bonus over any of the other clowns we have fit in defensive positions. Stand by for Coloccini folks. It could be a real circus act for the final day.

What does this leave us in terms of a team?

Harper
R.Taylor Coloccini S.Taylor Duff
Lovenkrands Butt Nolan Gutierrez
Martins Viduka

Well for me anyway. I'm sure Shearer will see it differently and either Guthrie or Smith will feature instead of Lovenkrands leaving us with a severe lack of pace going forward. Dare I mention that Geremi is available.

In response to the above, I believe Kadar has a broken leg, but that should still put him about on par with Cacapa when it comes to pace.

I'd throw all my hopes on the counterattack from sitting deep as it will prevent the likes of Agbonlahor getting in behind us. Hoofing the ball long is not an option as the Villa centre halves wouldn't look out of place playing in the NBA. An interesting thought might be to chip away all game long in the hope that Viduka can link up with Martins and Lovenkrands and produce a few chances that we can take. If it's not working then bring on Owen and look to work out an opportunity for him. It hasn't happened for him recently but I feel he might have that goal that could mean all the difference on the day. If ever he was to net one goal to silence all his critics then this would be the time to do it.

[mrmalaki]

Just found out that my girl friends mum has got me an early birthday present of a trip to the match. Could turn out to be the best present I ever got (as long as we get a good result)!

Now I've kinda changed my mind, hope he puts the big names out and they play well!

[trophy4toon]

Matthew and I have great seats at Villa Park, right on the halfway line, about half way up the second block of the Doug Ellis stand, with the dugouts across the pitch. Only problem is of course it's in the Villa end. I've told him to wrestle me to the ground if Newcastle score. 

If you want some reasons to be optimistic:

- in their last 15 games Villa have only won once. They have drawn 6 and lost 8.

- they have only won 6 home games all season 

- they have lost at home to Middlesbrough and drawn at home to Stoke and Portsmouth

- they have conceded 21 goals at home this season which means Villa have conceded more home goals than Middlesbrough

- under Shearer Newcastle have only conceded more than 1 goal in a match once, and that was away to Liverpool.

- Newcastle are scoring on average 1 goal a game away from home 

Unlike Fulham, Villa are not in a good run of form, in fact quite the opposite.

How can we possibly not get at least a draw   

[mrmalaki]

Don't think I could cope being in the Villa end for this game!

I'm gonna be in the top corner of the Doug Ellis Stand P11 zone I think it is. Hoing a little bit more than normal that tomorow goes well.

[trophy4toon]

I'm feeling more optimistic.

Perfect weather down here for an end of season match, really hot and sunny.

Enough to convince the Villa players that they have not much to play for and time to start thinking about their holidays.

And enough to inspire Martins and Viduka to score some goals as the heat and sun have to be what they were brought up and thrive on.

Anyways, off to the match now, feeling tense and nervous.

Howway the lads       

[CraigDoyle]

In 90 minutes I think we managed to show most of the reasons why we've been heading for relegation since the back of Christmas.

The goalkeeper is absolutely atrocious. I couldn't believe that some people have spent the last few years comparing him in quality to Shay Given. He can stop a couple of shots but that's where his skill set ends. Kicking is woeful to the point that he often has to take a touch before launching the ball. When he does launch it he can't distribute the ball to anyone in a black and white shirt or often to within 10 yards of one. Worse is that he seldom comes off his line and appears to have no control over goings on in the penalty area whatsoever. The simplest of crosses are left untaken and times where he just needs to come out and take player and ball, knowing full well that keepers always get free kicks in amidst the chaos. I'm blaming Harper 100% for the goal today as he was the one who lost the ball initially. An absolutely terrible throw out to Lovenkrands goes straight off the pitch, Villa take the throw, win a corner and score as a result of that attack. I would try Krul from the start next term.

Ameobi. His appearance on the pitch summed up everything in one blow. He's like a magnet that attracts everything negative towards himself. Somehow when he arrives on the pitch he seems to get the half chances and you know the outcome before he even strikes the ball. He doesn't look dangerous in the slightest. I can understand why he was brought on but honestly I'd have gone with Gutierrez or even Smith ahead of Shola. The whole situation surrounding Shola is just an example of the bizarre behaviour this club exhibits. Everyone knows he isn't good enough and we've known since the second or third season he was here. So why does the club insist on keeping the lad on when quite clearly he isn't of the ability level required? Looking at things on the whole that is probably a minor question.

The midfield is quite clearly the worst in the Premiership. It's quicker to list what it has as opposed to what it lacks but I'm not one for short cuts: No Pace, No Creativity, No Movement, No Drive, No Attacking Qualities, No Long Range Shooting, Lack of Wingers, 1 Winger Formation, too many men doing the same job, etc. etc. etc.

Perhaps the most criminal thing is that most of these players can't play a simple pass. There seems to be a mental block involved in kicking the ball 10 yards to feet. It's almost as if we see the simple ball but decide it's too easy to play so instead of playing two easy passes to cut a team open we have to try the 'world cup' pass. The point is that these guys can't play the simple ball, never mind the complicated one.

Defensively we look as big a shambles now as we ever did. 5 minutes into the game and Coloccini looks like he's been on the drink the night before with some of his comedy errors. David Edgar isn't of the required standard at any position along the back line but apparently he's the best we have graduating the academy system. Perhaps it is a bit too early for Tozer and Kadar but I'd be looking to see them start making appearances next season at this rate.

I really need to gather my thoughts on this and present it in a bigger and more meaningful manner. It's a horrible situation to find ourselves in but I feel I should be more disappointed than I am. I don't feel wound up by opposition fans or even all that bothered. Maybe it is down to the fact that I saw this coming when Keegan left and I've never really believed that we could claw our way out despite other teams also being so poor.

More when I can get some more perspective.

[trophy4toon]

I know everyone wants Shearer to stay on and manage us in the Championship, but some of the things that went on today were very puzzling.

I said a few weeks back there is no substitute for class but today we had a lot of our class on the bench and a lot of rubbish on the pitch.

Matthew said to me in the second half, when did we bring Danny Guthrie on. I pointed out to him that he'd been on from the start, just completely anonymous, and he played the full 90 minutes like that. Gutierrez is a current Argentina international, why was he not on the pitch right midfield instead of Guthrie in a game we had to win.

Lovenkrams looked fast and purposeful, would question why he was taken off for Enrique. In saying that Enrique looked the best player on the pitch when he came on at left back and drove forward strongly down the left wing. Why was he not on from the start.

Alan Smith is another player who has class albeit he has not had the greatest of times at Newcastle. Nolan just lumbers around the pitch never really up with attack or defence. Bolton must have been laughing getting £4 million of us for him. I would question why Smith was not in for or on at some point for Nolan.

Duff is a great bloke and tries his heart out but he is finished at Premier League level. He should not have stayed on when Lovenkrams was taken off. He did nothing.

Gutierrez was warming up most of the second half clearly planned to come on for Guthrie on the right wing. Then a late change of mind as Shearer said in his interview afterwards. They decided to change tactics and go long, hence on came Ameobi to replace Viduka for us to lob the ball aimlessly up the pitch at. What a joke. Viduka is one of our class players and for me was man of the match today, but he needs the ball played into feet for him to lay off, and gets precious little of that. Ameobi did nothing as we all knew he would, two chances fell to him that I saw and both shots ended up in the same place, ballooned high and wide into row Z.

Michael Owen is another class player who really looked the part when he came on. However when you have no passes, no chances and no possession and watch every dead ball given away, it must be heartbreaking playing up front for Newcastle.

Coloccini, well he must have had the worst first 5 minutes of any centre half this season. What are our coaches doing at Newcastle, you just want to get hold of Coloccini and say two words only to him "LAUNCH IT", because he constantly wins the ball then gives it away again trying to be too clever.

The way to play Villa is to sit deep, frustrate them then go all out offensive for the last 20 minutes as they tire. If you defend high against them you will get caught by Agbonlahor and Young, I've watched it there all season. Thats how the smart clubs play them, exactly for example how Guus Hiddinck played it when Chelsea won there 1-0. So what did we do, we played high against them relying on the offside trap and threw players forward at every opportunity. Suicide tactics against Villa Mr Shearer. 

And Steve Harper, well could not agree more with Craig, he's a complete liability whatever league we are in. We need to either play Tim Krul or sign another keeper. You have to question why we let Shay Given go in January when we were already in a relegation battle.

Villa were not really up for it today and played poorly but still almost scored a couple more goals, how did Carew miss that chance second half when Taylor fell over as the ball came to him, leaving Carew unmarked on the edge of the 6 yard box.

The disappointing thing about this match was that we didn't really perform. We had a lot of class players in the 18 man squad but I'm not at all convinced Shearer came anywhere close in getting the best out of what he had available.

Will Shearer be any good as a manager, well thats the problem isn't it, he has no experience so we don't know. But he does have a record of Played 8, Won 1, Drawn 2, Lost 5. And a relegation on his cv.

Not a very impressive start to his managerial career. But to be fair, he has inherited a completely disfunctional squad of players and there is also Joey Barton !!

So another gamble in the offing from our roller coaster owner Mike Ashley   

             

[mrmalaki]

The thing about Shearer is I think he is doing everything right behind the scenes it's just not being reflected on the pitch. Things like getting rid of the team physio and sending Barton off for the rest of the season, they should of been done ages ago. I think he could od very well in a role working along side a good coach but not nessacerily the full time manger.

My suggestion would be to keep Ian Dowie on as first team manager and bring Shearer in with the official title of "Assistant Manager". This ensures minimal changes (which we have had far too many of) and means that both guys can get on with doing what they do best, maybe during this time Al can work on the coaching badges and get some much needed experience that way. The only hurdle could be the wages, he got 1 mil for those 8 games! We should be looking at something around 1-1.5 mil for a season in the manager next term.

My other views on todays match; I realise I'm gonna repeat alot of what the others have said but anyway:
Harper showing why he was number 2 to Given: In my opinion the reason we arent in the league anymore. Was talking to a Villa fan on the train back, really nice bloke actually, and he was saying about how every great manager has built a team from the back, with the mind set of if they don't conceed they can't lose. Newcastle have the other mindset of if we score more than them we won't lose. That needs to change over the summer, we need to have a good young goalie who can do well; my choice would either be Tim Krul, did well in the UEFA cup a couple of years ago if he is good enough for that then surely he is good enough for the Championship no?

On that pitch today I'm not sure there was one player that cared for the club more than they care about the cash in their back pocket. Watching the 'boro game on MOTD this evening and the look on their faces and the way they reacted to losing it looked like it meant something to them, it looked like they actually cared about staying in the league. But looking at the Newcastle game none of them, except maybe Steven Taylor, genuinely looked heart broken in defeat.

The defence today looked like it was missing our two best players of the season, mainly cos it was. Beye and Bassong have been the sources of credibility in our half of the pitch. And in my opinon are the only two first team players we should be aiming to keep a hold of, Tozer and Kadar could complete the back four in my opinion if we can't get anyone of a higher quality in.

I don't think i need to talk about the midfield (or lack there of) as it has been mentioned already to a greater extent to what I was planing on. All i can add is my suggestions for next year:
bring in Jonjo Shelvey no matter what the cost! Also bring in a more experienced player to play along side him. Look at bringing in someone from Arsenal or Man United on loan (like one of the youngsters), maybe look at Jermaine Pennant for a wide player (if he can keep his wage demands down) and then call up the Shane Ferguson to the first team to play on the left.

As for up front today they looked sharp for 30 minutes, unfortunately that was the first 30 and after that they look abysmal. Another interesting thing said by the man on the train (wish I got his name). He said how when we started playing longball it was all over. If you have one guy looking one way and having to turn and run on to it racing against a man who can watch it all the way and run towards it (if needed) there is always gonna be only one winner, unless there is a huge mistake or the man turning and running on to it is Messi!

Next season I'd like to see the five first team strikers we have out (Owen, Martins, Viduka, Carroll and Ameobi) and replaced by people that can still (in some cases without the still) score goals Nile Ranger looks like an exciting prospect. We should have Zamblera back from his loan and Xisco should get a freaking chance! Maybe add one other striker incase of injuries.

On the side note The BBC commentator for the match Jonathan Pearce walked past us in the build up to the match and wished us luck (fat lot of good that did), and I think it was David Pleat (guessing he was doing something for Sky or a newspaper?) accidently stroked my leg as he walked by too... sad to say that was the best part of the match... and was about an hour before kick off.