if any thing newcastle should of 1 the game in the 1st half but as play went on a 0-0 result probly was fair overall both sides lacked the cuttin edge 2 games in nutin really 4 both sides ta shout bout.

petrov is too slow in this game. do u aree with me?

It may only be a point when it really should have been 3 but at least it was a vast improvement on last weeks performance!at the end of the day you can only play if the opposition let you and last week liverpool didnt allow us to play and yet today newcasle did but its a shame we didnt take advantage!

Sure, Young didn't have a great game today. But he has, in other games, been our best and most-dangerous player on the field. What more convincing do you need?

And I, too, desperately wanted Maloney to replace Petrov with 20 minutes to go. Why not put a fresh attacking presence on the field?

i agree abotu petrov and young they did very little to create anything today molney should have been brought on and give at least 10 minutes

Think that's a little harsh on Young, he'll be a fine player but needs to settle on a position. Petrov, he's gotta start walking the walk. I found it strange that despite having competition for places, as MON states, the only player to be out from last weeks...well lets be kind and say nervous start, was ironically probably one of best players during that match, Taylor. Think Maloney should have played on the left with Barry & NRC in the centre and Young on the right, up front I'd have gone with Gabby and Moore or Harewood & Moore, it seems Carew is struggling with some sort of illness at the moment. Still a point away at Newcastle in Big Sam's honeymoon period isn't all bad, what is a little worrying is that we're not taking our chances,again....

I felt Petrov was better than Barry today who was too slow in his delivery . Petrov had much more of an influence on the game. The defensive Lausen had a great game and was MOTM but Gardner was weak at full back. We clearly see the need for a quality right back and experienced goal scorer. We all see games differently don't we?

We need creativity in midfield,a finisher and Aggy needs to take a rest to put his feet back on the ground.Looked terrible in two games and had the three points in his hand and blew it.Young fit players with enthusiasm is just not enough.Experience counts.U.T.V and all the U.S.A Villains

Petrov??? Who???

Like you, I sat down 30 seconds before kick off with a cold can in one hand and remote in the other. All I can say is I knew who 10 of the players were and assumed Petrov was playing since he is MON's boy!!

Seriously he needs a short sharp shock, put him on the bench next game and see if that creates a reaction, at the moment he doesn't seem to care.

Young on the other hand, I feel he looked lively and took the game to the northerners, Gabby for me did little or nothing, he had one fortuitous break and then selfishly tried to score without looking because he was too busy staring at Reo Coker who he should have passed to! It would have been 1-0 villa and a deserved 3 points.

Come on MON give us a couple changes next week!

Petrov needs a kick up the arse. He sits too deep, passes back or sideways, rarely makes the runs - whats this all about?

Agbonlahor isn't working. We need a new striker and a new right sided midfielder. We are not a million miles away from a solid side.

Laursen was awesome, Carson assured, Bouma looked good too - CG looks at home at RB(!).

We will progress with a few more faces. I feel upbeat.

I agree about Craig Gardner. He plays tough every game, even while playing out of position. He has become one of my favorites on the sqaud.

I think we will be happy with that point against Newcastle although we were the better side but im glad we got this fixture out the way because i think the magpies will hit serious form later on in the season.

Once we get our win next week we can build on it. I think that will only happen when Maloney and Moore get more time on the field.

still dont know y we dont revert back to a 3-5 2 formation like we were in ther 90s
- mellberg - laursen - bouma -

agbonlahor - nrc - graig gardner - barry - young

- moore - maloney -

I agree with you about Maloney, i would like to see this as our line up agains't Fulham next week :

Carson

New RB (hopefully)
Mellberg
Laursen
Bouma

Young
ReoCoker
Barry
Maloney

Carew
Moore

i think Petrov and Aggy need to be dropped after 2 pretty quiet displays and Gardner is a great player who i rate highly..but i still think we need a quality right back. On another note i think Laursen was brillient today, and Carson made a decent debut with one great save...great to hear him being commanding already...KEEPERS! lol

I feel upbeat, this was a sobering spectacle as it shows that we are not that far off the clubs like Newcastle and Spurs who were allegedly worlds ahead of us.

I thought Reo Coker and Barry were the best players on the pitch and Gardner looks to be turning into a very accomplished young player. Petrov looks a little lost to me, as did Gabby and Young. I would have liked to have seen Maloney or perhaps even Berger on the pitch, as we just didn't seem to have any ideas going forward.

I want to see Luke Moore get more of a game. It might just be rose tinted glasses, but from the second he gets on the pitch he seems to exude confidence. You've got to feed a character like that, as I think somewhere in there he knows that he is better than a lot of the blokes up against him..

Lay off the boys

In a game with little space how can anyone show there presence ? Petrov showed glimpses, NRC needs to work on passing the ball. Young was crowded out, showing that he is a recognised danger man. Maloney is worthy of 20 mins in place of Petrov. Sky sports panel didn't give us a hope, I'm happy. Just hope were not a hard to beat team, and that we do find an edge by the time the window closes.

Splash the Cash

U.T.V
S

Robbo the OAP

don't get me started on barry

yes i think he's a decent enough player but he's no central midfielder (which he prefers) and i think we can do better at left back with bouma and he's no winger ...

i've given up saying we need better than barry ... i hope most know my views on this but i'll just roll with the majority

Damian, I think you have a point, for me Barry didn't do a lot well all afternoon, he got a few touches but didn't seem to produce, for example first 5 seconds of the match he gave the ball away ending in a Newcastle corner, straight away under pressure! NRC is suposed to be the one who sits deep and breaks up the other teams moves giving Barry the confidence to roam forwards and score like he did against Inter, I was sat behind the goal as his first went in and thought he might be on to something this year but now I'm not so sure.

I think the defense looks solid, but needs numbers on the bench for when Laurson gets injured again. Midfield is a bit shakey and I'm yet again wondering about Petrov, Barry needs to be at left back whether he likes it or not, Gabby has had two shady games now and could do with a stint on the bench in favour of Moore to bring a bit of competition in. It's odd when you think about it, we have more options up front than at the back, and yet we seem to gel better at the back than up front - MON just hasn't got it right yet and buying players like Marlon Hair-brain won't help.

y did mon not give maloney or marlon deadwood a run out for at least 15 - 20 mins he brought them! we were 0-0 so y not gamble, give it a go win or loose!

on another note the official site has posted detail and comments about moores contract situ and that mon want him to stay and he wants to stay so looks like he wont be sold to wba.

We lacked that cutting edge to get the goal we deserved.

I'm surprised we outplayed Newcastle, albeit marginally, and our defence never really looked like conceding. Unfortunately we never really looked like scoring despite creating a few good chances.

Considering it was our second game of the season, and also considering we lost the first, I thought we did OK against a Newcastle side that were coming off the back of a convincing win last week.

We looked nervous when we got the ball, but were able to break down Newcastle's attacks before they even got started. Laursen was immense for us at the back. I think Carson only had one save to make, despite Milner getting one or two dangerous crosses into the box.

Gardner did OK at right back, although he frequently needed help from Young, Reo-Coker, Mellberg and a few others to cope with Martins and Milner. They were having to double team Milner to keep him from getting to the byline, which may have affected our ability to get forward.

I felt that Barry and Reo-Coker were often playing too deep (right in front of the centre-backs), resulting in a large gap between them and the front two. Barry was not his usual self, often giving the ball away, but I was impressed with Reo-Coker's workrate. His runs forward frequently unsettled the Newcastle defence. Petrov had his moments, but was largely anonymous. Young was not very effective on the left, but this may have been because Petrov was not offering any width on the right, meaning that Young was quite crowded when he received the ball. Young didn't seem to be able to take players on, or get crosses into the box. And, he's not as fast as everyone seems to assume.

Agbonlahor really should be dropped for his unforgivable selfishness when shooting rather than passing to Reo-Coker. Reo-Coker had an open goal to shoot into, but Gabby decided to scuff it wide with his left foot, after doing some great work running solo from his own half. If he'd have passed, we would have won.

I'm looking forward to getting Berger back from injury, because we're clearly missing his flair and creativity. A decent right-back would allow Gardner to play in midfield, which would also help us.

Hopefully this was just second match nerves, but it needs to get better.

I'm not the only one who will have noticed that Petrov is the sweatiest man in football. 2 minutes into the game and he's dripping. Every time he went to close down and the ball went past him his head went down and he stopped, before jogging back. He seems to have severe fitness problems. When the ball comes to his feet, he wants to hold it for too long, and gets challenged. O'Neill must notice this and either get him fitter, substitute him or play Maloney instead. He's not prepared for the premier league yet.

"Weaknesses: My heading. In fact, I don't think I've ever won a header in my life!"

This was taken from an interview with Liam Rosenior, the right back that Villa are currently being linked with, a player who according to Sanchez is not good enough to be in his first team for Fulham!

Surley this is just a case of reporters linking us with any old right back coz he's available! Here's hoping!

See the full interview here: LINK

sanchez is a gormo.He did buy Hughes(cant pass wont pass)

Agree with most of you lot, why the hell didnt we play maloney??? We need to play either maloney or berger in our team, simple as that - they are quality creative playmakers that would improve our attacking performances ten-fold. If maloney played 90mins instead of petrov we'd have created triple the chances.

I'll be livid if petrov isnt benched for maloney / berger against fulham (perfect game to give maloney a decent runout)

i have said it once and i will say it again, we have not got a 20 goal a season striker and we need one!!! get yakubu in he will be the missing link! also i think MON needs to look at his squad, it is not good enough to sell so many defenders and not have replacemnts in to fill the gaps, to start a season with 2 centre backs not right back and a loan keeper is not the sign of a team looking to get to the champions league! there are no excuses it is poor management!

Overall, a good performance. Unlucky on Laursen's header, and Gabby had a boner missing NRC. On the balance of play we should've had 3 points. The attack isn't quite clicking yet, obviously, and we do seem to often get a large gap in midfield. The spine and overall shape doesn't look set yet. But there's loads of promise up front when they get sorted out playing with each other.

Gardner isn't a permanent solution at right back, but he's a good player, and holding up adequately. Great spirit, very competitive and collected. NRC had a good game, Laursen was inspired, Bouma looks very confident and assured. Carew looked better before his breathing problem, not sure what's wrong with him, but something seems to be.

I think MON has wanted to give a run-out to a fixed side, and see how they gel. This seems to be his initial first-choice side, and it seems he's being rather methodical about making any changes. I'm hoping that we'll see more of Maloney and Berger soon, and likewise Moore. I think he knows what he's got with Berger, but is hoping not to have to rely on him. I imagine he's also trying to feed confidence by not making making too many changes, letting players know that an off game isn't going to find them immediately out of favor.

It also seems to me that MON's "lack of urgency" may be related to wanting to see what he's got in real matches before the deadline. He's taking a good look at the side which had a nice run at the end of last season. He's learning more about the side's true strengths and weaknesses in these games than during friendlies. I think that's also why he's declined to make a lot of changes from the first week to the second.

A few key additions, and this could be an excellent side with only the promise of getting better. There's a lot of youth out there at the moment, and they're acquitting themselves well enough out of the gate.

Good points kohoutek, it's more than just a little frustrating about the lack of numbers/signings so far, but, if like you say he is gambling these first few games to asses the squad in real competition and come Sept 1st he has the additions to make us challenge for europe (and we have cover for injuries/suspensions) then I think we'll all be a happy bunch! I must admit though gambling these first few points is quite a big risk in itself!

You never know we will probably all be on here kissing his ass about the new look squad we have come Sept 1st! lol ;D