Newcastle United suffered a second Premier League defeat in six days as Aston Villa won 1-0 at St James' Park through Johan Manzambi's first-half header.
Matthias Jaissle's side must believe they're still on an international break, as the lads managed just one shot on target, were booed at half- and full-time, and did everything in their hands to extend their run without a home clean sheet in all competitions to a club-record 16 matches.
Even though Newcastle showed a bit more aggression than in the 4-1 defeat at Coventry, that nearly proved costly after 18 minutes. Joelinton was booked for a challenge on Manzambi before Sven Botman launched into Nicolas Jackson moments later. Botman somehow received only a yellow card, and a VAR review did not recommend an upgrade despite the savageness of the tackle. Chaos averted… only for a minute.
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Villa's Jackson had already shot straight at Lukas Hornicek before Manzambi, who came close to joining Newcastle during the summer, punished the hosts in the 36th minute. Joao Gomes delivered from the right and Manzambi escaped Newcastle's static marking to head home from six yards.
Newcastle briefly lost its shape after falling behind and was fortunate not to reach halftime further down the scoreboard. Emiliano Buendia struck the post following a quick Villa move, while Jaissle showed his frustration from the touchline as the visitors repeatedly found space through midfield and Newcastle struggled to build coherent attacks of its own.
The hosts improved marginally after the restart and finally tested new Villa goalie Zion Suzuki in the 49th minute, when Botman blasted a powerful shot toward goal for the keeper to produce an excellent save. Would you believe that's Newcastle's only shot on target across the entire match!?
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Jaissle changed his attack before the hour, replacing Matias Fernandez-Pardo and Joe Willock with Bazoumana Toure and Will Osula. Fernandez-Pardo struggled to influence the game as much as all Geordie fans hoped he'd do when he was signed, while Yoane Wissa has come down to earth after a good start to the season, finding little space to operate through the middle.
And then, there's Jaissle. The once-looking-genius manager also got a great start to the campaign, but once again went back to what is now becoming his bona fide — and bizarre — Plan B by using Dan Burn, of all people, as his main striker. Sheesh…
Jaissle admitted that the defensive lapse on Villa's goal proved decisive, but sounded happy with the performance otherwise. That said, he made clear the offense has to start doing something, or else.
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"Defensively, I thought the structure was good," Jaissle said. "But not all the time and, on that stage in the Premier League, against a strong opponent, one occasion is enough to concede a goal, and that was too easy – losing their man in the box, don't put pressure for the cross. And on the other hand, we need to be more efficient, offensive-wise, to get more points."
The defeat marked Newcastle's third in four league matches, a run in which Jaissle's side has conceded 10 goals and increasingly struggled for attacking cohesion. So far this calendar year, Newcastle and Tottenham (yes, you read that right) are tied in lost games with 13 apiece.
Newcastle now travels to Crystal Palace on Sunday, with the Eagles having lost 12 since Jan. 1. Something has to give.
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