Round 26, ASTON VILLA vs. NEWCASTLE UNITED 9 Feb [R]

[BayernWake]

Apparently there's a match tomorrow?

Location: BIRMINGHAM
Time: 12.45 PM local

Previous result at SJP: 0-0

Past five results at Villa Park:
2006/07 lost 0-2
2005/06 won 2-1 Ameobi, N'Zogbia
2004/05 lost 2-4 Kluivert, O'Brien
2003/04 drew 0-0
2002/03 won 1-0 Shearer

2008 EPL and Cup results:
AVFC (EPL: 6th, 41 pts): W (Sp*rz) L (ManU) W (reading) D (LFC) D (Blackburn) L (Fulham USA)

NUFC (EPL: 12th, 28 pts): L (Citeh) D (Stoke) L (ManU) W (Stoke) D (Bolton) L (Team France) L (Team France) D (Robert Huth)

Whew, starting threads is hard. So someone better talk about the game, painful as it may be.

BEYE IS BACK! Zoggy is out with yellow accumulation.

BUT BEYE IS BACK!

[mplsTOON]

Given
Beye Taylor Cacapa Enrique
Milner Emre Faye Duff
Viduka Owen

Subs: Smith, Butt, Carr, ????

1-1 is the realistic best we can hope for.

2-1 win for the Toon would be fantastic although a 2-1 loss is not that difficult ot anticipate.

Depends on wether Emre shows up or mails it in...

[JayRockers!]

Aston Villa Newcastle
22 Scott Carson (G) (G) Shay Given 1
3 Wilfred Bouma (D) (D) Habib Beye 21
15 Curtis Davies (D) (D) Claudio Cacapa 6
5 Martin Laursen (D) (D) Stephen Carr 2
4 Olof Mellberg (D) (D) Steven Taylor 27
6 Gareth Barry (M) (M) Joey Barton 7
28 Shaun Maloney (M) (M) Nicky Butt 22
19 Stiliyan Petrov (M) (M) Damien Duff 11
20 Nigel Reo-Coker (M) (M) James Milner 16
10 John Carew (S) (S) Michael Owen 10
7 Ashley Young (S) (S) Alan Smith 17

Substitutes
13 Stuart Taylor (G) (G) Steve Harper 13
16 Zat Knight (D) (D) Sanchez Jose Enrique 3
26 Craig Gardner (M) (M) Belozoglu Emre 5
27 Isaiah Osbourne (M) (M) Abdoulaye Faye 25
9 Marlon Harewood (S) (S) Mark Viduka 36

Carr is left back for Zog.

Thx,

Jay!

[JayRockers!]

Goal, Owen, 4th. Assist from Milner. 2 recently benched players provide.

It took a deflection off Barry, but was on target to start.

Thx,

Jay!

[bburgarelli]

Owen!!! Milner cross from the left, and Owen sends it home.

[JayRockers!]

14th minute Taylor handles yet again in the box. And it sends the ball wide of the mark. No call. Ironically, Barry took the shot.

Thx,

Jay!

[bburgarelli]

What about Carr folks?

It's even funny to watch his flops in the left back.

I must agree with you guys about him today. A traffic cone would do better!

[JayRockers!]

Half 0-1.

Butt is completely destroying the midfield. When a ball does get past however, Villa are running rampant into the box (and sometimes getting fouled in the box-Barton on Young). Either a foul outside the box setting up a dangerous free kick, or a timely save by Given, or the rare dig in by Carr or Beye are keeping Villa on the back foot. When Newcastle gets forward, they are capable of stringing together some pretty play, but it's rare to see. Villa are dictating the play. Barton and Smith are worthless, as usual. Only one or two fouls between them, but they haven't completed a noteworthy pass yet.

Thx,

Jay!

[JayRockers!]

What about Carr folks?

It's even funny to watch his flops in the left back.

I must agree with you guys about him today. A traffic cone would do better!
I disagree. Since Villa has no talent running down the right today (no Agbonlahor) Carr has been adequate. He's even gone in on a couple of tackles and come away with the ball. It's only when Carr has to defend inside the box, or take on players who are significanly faster and more skillful than him (which is quite often in the EPL) that his lack of pace and quality show. Plus, he's staying at home today, which allows him to keep the play in front of him instead of having to run at full speed back into the play and then make an ill-timed challenge to make up for his lack of positioning. The sad thing is that he hasn't adapted to his loss of skill by making up for it with his head. Older, slower centerbacks, and defenders in general, make up for their loss of pace with positioning. Not S. Carr.

Thx,

Jay!

[glennaldo_sf]

Decent first half from Newcastle but Barton looks off... almost gave away two penalties and broke one flowing move with a beautiful pass to .... no one.

[JayRockers!]

Mellberg and Petrov off. Gardner and Harewood on.

Thx,

Jay!

[JayRockers!]

48th. Bouma shoots, deflection. Goal. 1-1. That didn't last long.

Thx,

Jay!

[Shameus]

Just woke up, and watching the gamecast while dealing with a migraine, so come on guys the win would help. There are 3 changes I would have rather seen today: Enrique instead of Carr, Faye instead of Cacapa, and Emre instead of Barton. Kind of bummed that Lua Lua didn't get on the bench. Could use his pace late in the 2nd when Villa's legs are gettting tired.

[JayRockers!]

51st. Set piece. Young to Carew to back of the net. Relegation beckons.

Damien Duff completely at fault for this goal. He was on the far post and walked away from it to the center of the net. The ball hit the far post on the way in. I'd sub him out immediately for this stunning lapse of concentraion.

Thx,

Jay!

[JayRockers!]

54th. Harper for Given. Injury related, I think. Didn't see one.

Thx,

Jay!

[bburgarelli]

Given out for Harper.

Seems that Bouma goal wasn't just a slip. But I keep my long time opinion, that a injured Given is way better than a fit Harper.

[THOMA GOL]

Just woke up, and watching the gamecast while dealing with a migraine, so come on guys the win would help.


Yeah, so I wake up go quickly walk the dog, come back in, my wife tells me, uhhhhhh you don't want to see this. I come and see it's 2-1, and Villa's pressure is still mounting. A sunny day in England, is like Newcastle winning convincingly. I take it Keegan doesn't fancy inmates errrr Viduka?

[Shameus]

This isn't helping my migraine. Oh and Jay I would agree with you on Duff out as well. Damn Given out. This just keeps getting better and better.

[Shameus]

Carew again. 3-1

[bburgarelli]

Butt makes us a favor, and assist Carew.

Emre coming on for Barton, just after the shit hit the fan...