BRUCIE’S ON
Villa inflict more pressure as Toon go winless in eight games
THE last time Steve Bruce felt this hurt at Villa Park, a cabbage had been hurled in his direction.
Last night may have been more painful.
That incident involving an infamous root vegetable ended Bruce’s tenure in the claret and blue half of Brum three years ago.
And if he is not careful, his dream job in charge of his hometown club could end in the same sorry way.
A run of seven league matches without victory comfortably turned into eight as the Geordie returned to the scene of his greatest managerial embarrassment – and suffered another dollop of it.
First-half goals from Ollie Watkins and Bertrand Traore compounded the gloom that has descended on Tyneside ever since the club’s last victory – against struggling West Brom in mid-December.
Toss exits in both cup competitions into the mix and these are testing times at St James’ Park.
The 60-year-old boss of the visitors might have been unfortunate in one sense.
The Villa side assembled by Dean Smith (right) has confidence oozing through it and is set up to play on the front foot.
With skipper Jack Grealish pulling the strings, the hosts were happy to play an open and expansive game that was being demanded by the Toon Army.
The only problem was that, front to back, they were better at it than the visitors.
Bruce tried to ring the changes in an effort to force a change in the outcome. He brought in four new faces from the side that lost at Arsenal and reverted to a three-man backline.
The first real action of the game offered a taste of things to come. Matt Targett flashed a centre across the face of goal that Watkins just failed to meet.
Three minutes later, the same combination tried again. This time
brought the opening goal. It really was that simple.
Grealish waited for Targett to create an overlap. The left-back obliged – and so too did Magpies defender Fabian Schar who half-sliced the ball up in the air.
When it came down Watkins reached it first, nodding over Karl Darlow and into the net.
It was the first goal Villa’s club record signing had scored in nine games.
It was his ninth of the campaign and he will do well to be offered a more simple opportunity again this season.
Newcastle slowly gained a foothold in the game and began to ask a few questions of their own. With Andy Carroll in the line-up, setpieces looked a profitable avenue and midway through the half it took an intervention from Tyrone Mings, nodding clear after
Jamaal Lascelles powered a header from Jonjo Shelvey’s corner towards goal.
But at the other end, the visitors still looked shaky and it took the assistant referee’s flag to wipe out a second for Watkins after Grealish had again played a pivotal part in setting his team-mate in the clear.
Despite enjoying decent possesit sion, Newcastle continued to look vulnerable and Villa’s second arrived just before the interval.
Grealish was again at the heart of it. Initially, his left-wing corner was cleared to the edge of the box where Traore recycled possession back to his skipper.
As players raced towards their own goal, Traore held back.
His captain played the ball back to him and the Frenchman allowed the pass to run across his body before firing into the net with his right foot off the underside of the crossbar. The second half followed the same pattern as the first. Villa midfielder Douglas Luiz missed a glorious chance to put the outcome beyond doubt before Bruce finally threw a potential saviour into the fray.
Livewire winger Alain SaintMaximin has been sorely missed, having fallen foul of Covid-19 and has been missing for the past two months – a period when the club’s form has tailed off alarmingly.
It was another substitute, however, Ryan Fraser, who streaked through seconds after coming onto the pitch and it took a desperate challenge from Ezri Konsa to prevent the pint-sized forward from pulling a goal back.