LATE HEADER GETS TOON OUT OF A JAM
World Cup winner JASON ROBINSON says one-dimensional approach must be kicked into touch as he urges the team to display their creativity
NEWCASTLE grabbed a dramatic equaliser in stoppage time from Jamaal Lascelles just when they thought they had blown the chance of a vital point in their fight against relegation.
Toon boss Steve Bruce, right, has been saying in recent weeks, it is “all about the accumulation of points.”
Newcastle looked as though they had thrown away a point when they let in a cruel owngoal in the 86th minute.
Matt Targett delivered a cross from the left and Ollie Watkins stopped to head and the ball
Lascelles rescues a point
took a huge deflection off Newcastle’s Ciaran Clark thigh on its way into the net.
The hosts did not give up and got their reward in the fourth minute of stoppage time. Jacob Murphy whipped in a cross from the left and Lascelles scored with a bullet header.
The ending was out of keeping with much of the match with midtable Villa also below par and lacking edge.
It was a tight first half with Villa looking the more composed and Newcastle failing to look a fluid outfit who can score enough.The Geordies have failed to score in the first half of 21 of their 28 games this season.
Bruce has a major problem up front without their three main strikers Callum Wilson, Allan Saint Maximin and Miguel Almiron. That trio has been involved in all but six of United’s 27 league goals, the home side struggled again with Joelinton isolated on the right wing, Dwight Gayle struggling on the left and Ryan Fraser playing as a “false” no9 through the middle.
The makeshift threesome combined with the Brazilian striker Gayle teeing up Ryan Fraser for a volley which Emi Martinez saved.
Clear-cut chances were rare in a workmanlike first half stalemate, but Ezri Konsa’s header from Targett’s free-kick went close after the break.
Villa’s own form has not been great since Jack Grealish was injured and they need their star man back quickly to provide a cutting edge.
Joelinton squandered a chance with 18 minutes to go and then the real drama of the night followed.
NEWCASTLE (4-3-3): Dubravka 7; Krafth 6 (Manquillo 83), Lascelles 7, Clark 7, Dummett 8; Hayden 5 (Carroll 88), Shelvey 6, Willock 5; Fraser 5 (Murphy 79), Joelinton 5, Gayle 4. Goal: Lascelles 90.
VILLA (4-3-3): Martinez 7; Elmohamady 6, Mings 8, Konsa 7, Targett 7; McGinn 7, Luiz 6, Ramsey 6 (Sanson 59,6); Traore 6 (El Ghazi 21,6), Trezeguet 7, Watkins 5.
Goal: Watkins 86.
BLUNT BLADES Chris Wilder has left his home club and history proves that is a massive mistake...
WILDER WAS ‘PERFECT FIT’
PADDY KENNY says Sheffield United are making the same big mistake with Chris Wilder that they did with Neil Warnock.
United let Warnock, below, quit in 2007 after they were last relegated from the Premier League.
Kenny was part of that team at Bramall Lane and says the club paid for that error, spending the next 12 years out of the top-flight.
The former Blades keeper fears United face another spell in the wilderness, because Wilder was ‘the perfect fit’. He said: “Time will tell, but that’s how it’s looking again with Chris gone.
“When we got relegated in horrible circumstances – losing the last game of the season to Wigan – if you’d asked, ‘Who do you want in charge next season?’ you’d have said Neil Warnock. Now if asked you would say Chris Wilder, to give you the best chance of coming straight back up.
“I don’t think it was a good move when Warnock left. The club went on a massive decline. It took five years for Chris to get them back.”
The Blades have a poor record in replacing managers who have taken them to the top.
Bryan Robson was sacked within nine months of taking over from Warnock. It also did not work out when they sacked Ken Furphy in 1975 and when Dave Bassett quit in 1995. They led to long exiles from the top flight.
Kenny, who spent eight years at Bramall Lane, says owner Prince Abdullah must get Wilder’s successor right. “Definitely, you saw that when we got relegated,” he said.
The new man will have to be more flexible than Wilder and his insistence on controlling all football matters. Wilder wanted to retain the bulk of his squad for next term. The board wanted to cash in on John Egan and Sander Berge.
The board wanted to review their recruitment strategy because they did not feel Wilder delivered value for money, despite being given more than £100m to spend in 2019.
The final straw forWilder came in January when the board blocked his transfer requests for at least two players, including Jesse Lingard.
Wilder, a local boy, was also upset by delays to the redevelopment of their outdated training ground. “Chris will be gutted because he’s Sheffield United through and through,” said Kenny. “The club have lost out because he was perfect for them.”
THE Six Nations title has gone for England’s players and Lions tour places may do, too, unless they pull their finger out in the last two games of the championship.
Ahead of the tournament, Warren Gatland would have been looking at the majority of the party being drawn from the ranks of the World Cup finalists.
But just one win from three by England and some disappointing individual performances have left them needing to step up against France and then Ireland to book their seats on the plane. Or the bus. Or whatever it’s going to be.
For the Saracens lads, it will effectively be their last chance to catch Gatland’s eye. He is not going to use English second-tier club rugby to gauge where the players are at for a series with the world champion South Africans.
So this is the time to step up and show what they are really about.
As a player, when you have been criticised from pillar to post, there is nothing more satisfying than turning it around and delivering a big performance.
England have it in them.They just need to bring it out.They can turn around how people are feeling about the team in 80 minutes today.
It doesn’t bear thinking about what happens if England lose again.They could be going to Ireland next weekend scrapping it out with Italy for the wooden spoon.
Wales are going for the Grand Slam – but I actually thought England looked the better team in Cardiff a fortnight ago with the ball in hand.
But decisions went against them and they shot themselves in the foot with their penalty count.
Maro Itoje is a world-class player but he went over the edge. He and England really have to be squeaky clean today because there isn’t much wriggle room if they are to beat France.
The French are the most dangerous attacking team in the Six Nations and they will be coming to Twickenham to play today.
We haven’t seenVirimi Vakatawa in this championship as yet, but he is a game breaker and we will see what he can do today.
Unsurprisingly
Shaun Edwards has taken little time to transform their defence.They are a strong team and it will take an all-round, top-class England performance to turn them over. It will be a challenging assignment for Max Malins at full-back as he starts his first Test but what an opportunity he has been given to excel on the big stage.
Twickenham is a big pitch so he will have a lot of acreage to cover but, equally, that gives him lots of space to play in.
He needs to be positive in everything he does and put his stamp on the game.
When he runs, he has to beat his first man; when he kicks he has to make sure it is contestable.What I would say to him, having worn the No 15 for England, is to stay true to his instincts and not play within himself.
I made a success of it because I did what I was good at and was able to express myself and enjoy what I was doing.
He’s an exciting player. If he makes an impression, he keeps the shirt. This is his stage as much as anyone else’s.