EddyAston Villa held on to a 0-0 draw against Newcastle United at Villa Park.
The Villans were nowhere near good enough in the first half. Newcastle were the far superior side and should’ve scored at least twice.
7 Worst Transfer Windows of All Time
However, Marco Bizot performed brilliantly on his debut and made a couple of excellent saves to keep his side in the game.
A draw in the end is an acceptable result for Aston Villa after Ezri Konsa’s red card, but they could’ve scored before the defender was sent off.
What made Aston Villa coach Austin MacPhee furious vs Newcastle United
Unai Emery is the one who calls the shots at Aston Villa, but his coaching staff play a big part behind the scenes as well.
One of those members is Austin MacPhee, who works as the set-piece coach at Villa Park.
Emery’s men didn’t have too many clear-cut chances to score against Newcastle, but one opportunity presented itself well before Konsa was sent off.
Youri Tielemans got on the ball on the left side of the pitch, and he delivered a phenomenal cross into the box. It was waiting for someone to head it in.
However, none of Villa’s attackers inside the box attacked the ball – it just bounced out of play between the goalkeeper and the outfield players.
That was frustrating to watch, and MacPhee was far from pleased.
BBC Sport’s Nick Mashiter was at Villa Park, and he spotted the home side’s set-piece coach’s irritated reaction to his players not going for the header.
“It was a great ball in by Youri Tielemans, but no one attacked it and Austin MacPhee – Villa’s set piece specialist – was left howling in frustration on the touchline,” Mashiter wrote on BBC’s Live Blog.
Set-piece coach Austin MacPhee screams instructions from the touchline during an Aston Villa game
Photo by James Gill – Danehouse/Getty Images
Aston Villa’s really poor first half
Emery wouldn’t have been happy with Aston Villa’s performance in the first half.
Newcastle’s midfield absolutely dominated the home side, and only one team looked like scoring before the break – and it wasn’t the hosts.
Aston Villa didn’t have a single shot in the first 45 minutes of the game.
By doing so, they became “the first team to not have a shot in the first half of a Premier League home game since Fulham v Man City in May 2024,” according to the BBC.
That will have to change when Vill
a take on Brentford in the second game.
admin
Rasheed
