Final warning is so grim for Toon
Bruce crisis with his men on their knees
WHAT must scare fed-up Newcastle fans is what happened after the final whistle.
Not the protest flags being unfurled back at St James’ Park, but the instinctive reaction of their shellshocked players.
Some hunched hands on knees, some staring aimlessly into the sky, Steve Bruce’s players looked like a team that had just been relegated. They have not quite managed that yet, but they are having a good shot at it. Fed-up is a phrase that seems to fit everyone – the fans, the team, Mike Ashley and Bruce himself.
When Bruce, below, declared defiantly he was taking the ‘My Way’ approach a few days ago he would do well to bear in mind another line from that Frank Sinatra classic, ‘And now the end is near’.
It is looking serious but at least the Toon squirrelled away 19 points for those colder, bleaker times when even their fans contemplate putting their tops on. Those times are here. Newcastle’s last win was on December 12 and they have scored just once in more than 700 minutes of play.
Pathetic really and when you look at Bruce, a decent man, he seems like a boxer who cannot take many more punches.
Told that protest flags were already on display back home, poor Bruce murmured: “I’m disappointed to hear that.”
He pointed to two crumbs of comfort as he prepares for tomorrow’s clash with Leeds – the return of Allan SaintMaximin and Ryan Fraser.
They could be the last roll of the dice such is the anxiety in the Newcastle camp. Even Isaac Hayden admitted: “It’s difficult coming out saying the same things. At the minute it’s just not happening for us. It’s just not good enough.”
Ollie Watkins nodded Villa in front after 13 minutes. Typically, that goal was a fiasco – Watkins pouncing after Fabian Schar popped the ball up trying to intercept a Matt Targett cross. Quite what keeper Karl Darlow was doing is anyone’s guess.
Villa’s second just before halftime came when Bertrand Traore finished off a neat onetwo with Jack Grealish to fire in off the underside of the bar.
Newcastle need answers to so many questions. Failing that, just a piece of good fortune or a scrappy 1-0 win would suffice. ASTON VILLA (4-2-3-1): Martinez 7; Cash 7, Konsa 7, Mings 7, Targett 7; Luiz 7, Nakamba 7; Barkley 7 (El Ghazi 80), Traore 8 (Trezeguet 80), Grealish 8 (Ramsey 87); Watkins 7. Goals: Watkins 13, Traore 42. NEWCASTLE (3-5-2): Darlow 6; Manquillo 6 (Fraser 71), Schar 6, Lascelles 6; Lewis 5, Almiron 6 (Gayle 81), Shelvey 6, Hayden 6, Hendrick 6; Wilson 5, Carroll 6 (Saint-Maximin 71).