Villa 2-0 Newcastle. Nov 25th.
I always take a degree of delight over victories against Newcastle, it’s largely irrational of me I accept, but a fact nonetheless. I can’t quite put my finger on it but I’ve never had a great deal of time for Newcastle United, I think it’s because I resent the notion that their fans are some sort of ‘uber-fans’in a class of their own, that they’re supposedly more devout than the rest of us, that the ‘Toon Army’ deserves more reverence than supporters of other clubs. I even resent that they have their own label, ‘Toon Army’ indeed, all very petty of me but there it is, football tribalism has no rules.
In truth, we ought to feel compassion for Newcastle United. They haven’t won anything in four decades or more and have suffered at the hands of questionable owners who don’t seem to regard them as a football club, more as a personal fiefdom. Yet my small time resentment remains so it was a pleasure to watch us beat them 2-0 tonight, in convincing manner despite the narrow scoreline. Their manager, Steve Bruce, is well known to us since we huffed and puffed under his leadership for three years without really getting anywhere, so their defensive tactics weren’t a surprise. They barely sneaked over the halfway line so we knew all along that just one goal would do it, in the end we got greedy and scored two.
Hourihane got the first, a splendid curler around a defensive wall after a free kick had been nudged to him just outside the box. Shortly after that, El Ghazi prodded in from close range after a cross was bulleted into the six yard box and that was game over. They flung on a big guy (Carrol) with twenty minutes to go and launched high balls at him, a typical Bruce ploy, but we coped without fuss. Grealish was his effervescent self, running the show, and our central defenders didn’t give their strikers a sniff when Newcastle did navigate themselves into our territory.
A satisfying night’s work in front of the floodlights at a packed Villa Park. I wish it was as easy as this every week.
In truth, we ought to feel compassion for Newcastle United. They haven’t won anything in four decades or more and have suffered at the hands of questionable owners who don’t seem to regard them as a football club, more as a personal fiefdom. Yet my small time resentment remains so it was a pleasure to watch us beat them 2-0 tonight, in convincing manner despite the narrow scoreline. Their manager, Steve Bruce, is well known to us since we huffed and puffed under his leadership for three years without really getting anywhere, so their defensive tactics weren’t a surprise. They barely sneaked over the halfway line so we knew all along that just one goal would do it, in the end we got greedy and scored two.
Hourihane got the first, a splendid curler around a defensive wall after a free kick had been nudged to him just outside the box. Shortly after that, El Ghazi prodded in from close range after a cross was bulleted into the six yard box and that was game over. They flung on a big guy (Carrol) with twenty minutes to go and launched high balls at him, a typical Bruce ploy, but we coped without fuss. Grealish was his effervescent self, running the show, and our central defenders didn’t give their strikers a sniff when Newcastle did navigate themselves into our territory.
A satisfying night’s work in front of the floodlights at a packed Villa Park. I wish it was as easy as this every week.
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