The Good, The Bad, and The Average #42: NUFC player ratings vs. Aston Villa (a) [PL33]

Three games in six days proved to be one too many for Jason Tindall and Newcastle United, with Aston Villa smashing the Magpies 4-1 in a contest the hosts dominated.

It was a minor miracle that we were able to head into half-time at 1-1 against Unai Emery's pumped-up side, following Ollie Watkins' opener and Fabian Schär's equaliser, as Watkins hit the woodwork twice as Villa piled on the pressure.

Things got much, much worse from there, unfortunately, and the second half was one-way traffic until the Villans ran away with it thanks to a powerful finish by the brilliant Ian Maatsen, an own goal from Dan Burn, and a howitzer from Amadou Onana.

We looked to be out of energy by the hour mark and did well to hold onto 1-1 for as long as we did, but there was never going to be a way back after Maatsen's strike. This has still been a very successful week for the club, however, made all the more remarkable in the absence of Eddie Howe.

Here's how we scored everyone involved at Villa Park, with a high of '7' and a low of '3'...

Serena Taylor / Newcastle United

The Good

Harvey Barnes kept up his productive form when putting in a brilliant cross for the equaliser, finding Fabian Schär at the back post. He was sharp in all of his actions in the opening period as well, but like many, seemed to run out of steam after the interval, before he was brought off near the end.

As much as it pains us to write it, all credit to Aston Villa. They bounced back brilliantly from their Champions League exit in midweek by dismantling us, though we looked knackered, and it didn't help us having a day less to prepare. A draw would have been a huge result for us, but Villa were more than deserving of their 4-1 and probably will be disappointed to not have won by a greater margin.

David Davies / PA

The Bad

We don't know how Bruno Guimarães was still on the pitch at the end, as he could have been sent off, and should have been substituted. He had a poor first half, failing to provide enough cover to Schär and Trippier, while barely making an impact at the other end of the pitch. He wasted his solitary shooting opportunity, too, when firing wildly over from the edge of the box. He was even worse in the second half, and some of his antics were very un-captain-like!

Even though he scored our goal, Fabian Schär was left isolated and was hopeless defensively. The centre-back seemed half-asleep in the opening few minutes, which led to Ollie Watkins opening the scoring and hitting the bar not long after. Schär picked up a yellow card that might've been a red ten minutes later, but did make some amends with the equaliser at the back post from Barnes' brilliant cross in the 18th minute.

Outside of him, Kieran Trippier found it extremely difficult defensively throughout, too, constantly getting caught high up the field and leaving the Swiss isolated against Watkins. Trippier came out second-best in most duels, as well, with McGinn getting the better of him numerous times. Asking him to start three games in six days was a stretch too far, as all four of Villa's goals came down his flank.

After being brilliant of late, Jacob Murphy was kept quite quiet by Maatsen in the first half, but still looked quite sharp without being able to create anything of note. However, he also lost the battle with his full-back after the interval and was partly at fault for Villa's second with his failure to track Maatsen on the overlap.

Alexander Isak cut a frustrated figure again in the first half but didn't make the most of the opportunities he got when he did manage to have a touch of the ball. He was anonymous after the break and didn't get a sniff of goal before being withdrawn for Callum Wilson with the score at 4-1.

Joelinton was our best midfielder in the opening period, with his booking being an absolute joke. He was the only one who seemed capable of standing up to Villa's physicality, and he covered for Bruno numerous times, but things fell apart for the big Brazilian in the second half, which ultimately meant things fell apart for the team.

Sandro Tonali was partly to blame for Villa's opener with a sloppy pass out after a great bit of defensive work to cut out an attack, but didn't do too much else wrong on a difficult afternoon for the team. It was notable how much he struggled with Rogers' physicality, though, with the Villa midfielder driving past him a few times.

This might have been a different story with Eddie Howe in the dugout, but if you'd offered us six points from these three games at the beginning of the week, we'd have taken them. Jason Tindall has done a fantastic job in difficult circumstances, but the unchanged team did for us here, and he was too slow to make subs.

Is there a decent referee in this division? Jarred Gillett missed a blatant yellow for Boubacar Kamara early on after a cynical foul on Joelinton and then gave a ridiculous yellow to Joelinton for a tackle where the Brazilian got a toe on the ball. He then failed to book Ollie Watkins for a dive in the box on the stroke of half-time. The only good thing we can say is that he was a bit less annoying after the interval.

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The Average

What a strange game this was for Nick Pope, who could have conceded even more on another day without playing poorly. He wasn't at fault for any of Villa's strikes and made plenty of decent saves, with one especially good one-on-one stop at 3-1 that unfortunately turned out to be meaningless. He was saved by his woodwork on a couple of occasions, mind!

Ahead of him, Dan Burn didn't struggle half as much with Watkins as Schär on the opposite side, but wasn't able to offer much threat from set pieces at the other end of the pitch. Tino Livramento had a very good first half, but his lack of shooting ability hindered him when getting into some excellent positions, and he tailed off significantly in the second period (like everyone else, in fairness).

Anthony Gordon was brought on before things completely unravelled and wasn't able to make much impact, while it's difficult to be critical of Emil Krafth, Joe Willock, Callum Wilson, and Matt Targett , given the state we were in when they were introduced. We'd like to have seen them all introduced earlier, though we're not convinced it would've made too much of a difference to the final score!

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The Breakdown

It's been a while since we've had to score the lads this low, but there can't be any complaints!

The XI

Nick Pope – 6

Kieran Trippier – 3 (off 77')

Fabian Schär – 3 (off 82')

Dan Burn – 6

Tino Livramento – 6

Bruno Guimarães – 3

Sandro Tonali – 5

Joelinton – 5

Jacob Murphy – 4 (off 65')

Alexander Isak – 5 (off 77')

Harvey Barnes – 7 ⭐️ (off 77')

The Subs

Anthony Gordon – 6 (on 65')

Emil Krafth – 6 (on 77')

Joe Willock – 6 (on 77')

Callum Wilson – 6 (on 77')

Matt Targett – 6 (on 82')

The Gaffer

Eddie Howe (Jason Tindall) – 3

The Opposition

Aston Villa – 8

The Ref

Jarred Gillett – 3

Serena Taylor / Newcastle United

The Next

Ipswich Town are the visitors to St James' Park next Saturday afternoon, for a traditional 3 p.m. (BST) kick-off that won't be shown live on television in the UK.

If the Villa game was one too far in an intensive week for our small squad, you'd expect us to be back firing on all cylinders for the visit of the relegation-haunted Tractor Boys.

Howay the lads!