Aston Villa suffered a bitterly disappointing loss at Newcastle Utd on Sunday and given our performance, it was a deserved defeat.
Villa simply didn’t turn up at St James’ Park, as although we enjoyed a decent amount of possession, we managed to register just one shot on target.
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Our play was disjointed, sloppy and ultimately not good enough at this level, as while Newcastle were determined and showed quality at times, we never really put them under pressure to earn the three points.
Steven Gerrard has decisions to make next weekend, but based on this performance, there most certainly will be changes to his starting line-up against Watford.
Aston Villa player ratings vs Newcastle:
Emiliano Martinez, 6 – Didn’t have a great deal to do and was beaten by the deflection on Trippier’s free-kick. Barring one mix up with Mings, was business as usual.
Matty Cash, 5 – Stuck to his task defensively and put in a decent shift despite being caught out on occasion, but it’s his play going forward that needs a big improvement. While he gets into good positions, his final ball is lacking. Needs to be more consistent with the quality he showed for his assist vs Leeds.
Calum Chambers, 6 – A decent full debut from Chambers. Can’t have been easy against a physical striker like Wood, but did well to keep him quiet for the most part and our defensive line was arguably one of the very few positives from the game.
Tyrone Mings, 6 – Similarly to Chambers, he defended well by and large and cut out the mistakes that we saw from him in midweek. One criticism would be that for all the headers that he wins in the opposition box, we need a more decisive touch from him in those scenarios.
Lucas Digne, 6 – Arguably the only player to play up to his standard in this one. Struggled with some miscommunication with Ramsey early on, but was committed and pushed forward to give us width when possible.
John McGinn, 5.5 – A battling performance as always, but his distribution and play in possession wasn’t up to his usual level. Need more quality from McGinn and for him to impose himself on games more as we struggle when he’s not got a sense of control over proceedings.
Douglas Luiz, 4 – Ultimately, this strategy of playing the Brazilian as a No. 6 now has to come to an end. He’s technically gifted and would be more influential in a more advanced role, but he’s not physical enough to be a defensive midfielder and his positioning is poor which leaves the team exposed.
Jacob Ramsey, 5 – Unfortunately couldn’t produce a repeat of the display we saw against Leeds, as although he showed glimpses of his quality, he couldn’t impact the game in the same way as our play was often too sloppy in the final third.
Emiliano Buendia, 5 – Perhaps not fully fit as he didn’t seem to be as influential on or off the ball as he was in previous games before coming off. A boost to see him start after the knock he sustained last time out, but not at his best.
Ollie Watkins, 4 – A real struggle for him again today as he looks low on confidence and belief. A hugely important factor in that though is he’s not getting the right service to be put in a position to be more effective. Too often he’s asked to come short and hold the ball up instead of playing to his strengths and finding him in space in the channels or in behind to stretch the defence and either create for himself or for others.
Philippe Coutinho, 5 – A subdued outing on this occasion as although he tried to pick the ball up in good areas and influence things, he couldn’t quite make his mark on the game and that in turn contributed to our overall struggle to threaten Newcastle’s goal.
Substitutions:
Leon Bailey, 5 – Looked lively as he tried to take players on and give us a spark. Given his lack of playing time in recent months, it would be harsh to expect too much more off him in his first appearance back.
Danny Ings, 4 – Did little to change things up top after replacing Watkins, and will perhaps be a little annoyed with himself that he couldn’t react quicker to a half-chance that came his way, albeit it was a difficult opportunity to take.
Carney Chukwuemeka, N/A
