It was a difficult watch on Saturday as Aston Villa’s second-half collapse against Newcastle Utd saw us suffer a 4-0 defeat.
After an evenly-fought contest in the opening 45 minutes where we settled into the game, frustrated the hosts and created some dangerous moments of our own, things began to fall apart after the break as we had no answer for Newcastle’s attacking play.
READ MORE: Five key talking points after Villa’s disappointing heavy defeat at Newcastle
Wave after wave of pressure and chances ended in a 4-0 loss, and in truth, it could have been worse as Eddie Howe’s side went close on several other occasions.
It was a disappointing way to follow up our impressive win over Brentford, as with Aaron Danks going with the same XI and system that worked so well just a week ago, the players couldn’t back that up with another complete performance as we didn’t make the most of our chances in the first half and defensively fell apart in the second.
Aston Villa player ratings vs Newcastle:
Emiliano Martinez, 6 – Made some good saves early on but had to come off after failing to recover from a blow to the head. It’s hoped that it isn’t anything serious that will linger as it looked as though he should have come off immediately after the initial incident.
Matty Cash, 4 – Defensively didn’t deal with the threat that Newcastle posed down his side of the pitch, as he was constantly caught out and troubled. Needs to be much better than this moving forward, and the same goes for the entire backline.
Ezri Konsa, 4 – Poor marking and failure to stay with players inside the box to deny them goalscoring opportunities. A really disappointing outing for him that he’ll no doubt be frustrated with, but he wasn’t helped with a lack of protection and support in front of the defence either.
Tyrone Mings, 4 – Similar story to his defensive partner as he was left exposed time and time again. While he did make some key interventions, he wasn’t able to keep Wilson quiet in big moments along with the rest of the defence, and they failed to contain Newcastle as they mounted pressure.
Ashley Young, 4 – Conceded the penalty just before half time in what was a big moment in the game. Struggled throughout with the movement and attacking play down that flank and then gave Almiron far too much room and time to cut in and score a brilliant goal.
Leander Dendoncker, 4.5 – Did well last week coming into the side as he was physically imposing and provided a protective screen in front of the defence. Wasn’t able to replicate that here beyond the first half as we started to get overrun in midfield and caught out with Newcastle able to play around our midfield pivot.
Douglas Luiz, 5 – Showed composure and good technical quality, particularly in the first half, when we were able to get on the ball and settle into the game. However, much like the rest of the team, struggled as the second half went on and couldn’t stop the Newcastle onslaught.
Ollie Watkins, 4 – Really disappointing from Watkins having hoped his goal last week would have boosted his confidence. Wasteful in possession and off the mark when in dangerous positions to threaten Newcastle’s goal. A really frustrating performance.
Emiliano Buendia, 4 – Looked lively early on and created some dangerous openings in the first half. However, he wasn’t clinical enough with his chances and wasted some good opportunities. Will be disappointed he didn’t make a more decisive impact on the game as it could have been a completely different story if he had.
Leon Bailey, 4 – Similar story to the other attacking players in that he was wasteful in possession and didn’t do enough in the first half when we had chances to cause Newcastle problems. A disappointing drop off after being so electric last time out.
Danny Ings, 4 – Worked hard up top but without any real attacking quality to go with it. Was difficult for him against physical centre-halves and a lack of service, and so he couldn’t provide that same clinical and ruthless presence up front as last week.
Substitutes:
Robin Olsen, 6 – A difficult situation for him to come into after replacing Martinez with the side being overrun and peppered with shots and pressure throughout.
Philippe Coutinho, 4 – Couldn’t do much to change the tide of the game, but in truth it was already gone by then anyway.
Jacob Ramsey, 5 – Showed some good touches and composure when getting on the ball but difficult for him in the circumstances.
Lucas Digne, 5 – Good to see him back on the pitch after returning from his injury layoff, and he’ll hope to get back into the starting XI in the coming games.
