Eddie Howe’s side stepped onto the pitch at Villa Park ready to play and throughout the duration of most of the match outpaced the Lions in almost every meaningful statistical category, including possession (59%) and passing accuracy (81%). The front three for Newcastle, Anthony Gordon, Harvey Barnes and Anthony Elanga showed impressive glimpses of their collective quality, especially in the first half where the team’s expected goals (xG) had already eclipsed 1; they finished with 1.4 to Aston Villa’s 0.2, respectively.
The Magpies’ first real chance of the game occurred within the first three minutes of the game when Sandro Tonali — the Italian midfielder who played his position well; he defended the Villa counter attack and executed his passes — completed a through-ball to newcomer Anthony Elanga. The 23-year-old Swede skipped by defenders, and delivered the first shot on target – a decent strike – of the match after deferring to not make the extra pass to attacking partner Anthony Gordon; an unfortunate miss.
Newcastle’s Player Ratings Reveal Missed Opportunities at Villa Park
According to Fotmob’s player ratings, apart from center forward Anthony Gordon, who sported the lowest rating (6.4) among both sides of starting players who completed the match, midfielders Joelinton (6.7) and Bruno Guimaraes (6.8) were the only other Newcastle starters with a sub-7 rating.
All things considered, the Isak-less Magpies looked quite polished and continued to generate chances throughout the match, outshooting the Villans 16 to three, but only three of those shots were on target. Dan Burn (7.5), Tino Livramento (7.7) and Sandro Tonali (7.2) were all textbook in covering Aston Villa striker Ollie Watkins (6.7), holding him to just one shot on target. Watkins has yet to score a goal on opening day in the English Premier League. Tyrone Mings (6.8) of Aston Villa had Fabian Schar (7.2) cooked with a deep pass intended for Watkins. And soon after, Morgan Rogers (6.7) completed a bullet to Watkins during an attack, leaving a one-on-one matchup between the 22-year-old and Burn but quickly fizzled out in the box.
In the 66th minute, Anthony Gordon received a pass from Elanga , and just as the English international made his first touch on what could’ve been a stellar scoring opportunity, Ezri Konsa (5.6) pulled the 24-year-old Englishman down to the turf. Konsa received a straight red card and Aston Villa were suddenly down to 10 men. The final 25-plus minutes were filled with messy and unorganized play and just like that, time had dwindled and the better performing team — with more players on the field — failed to capitalize and a seemingly key turning point of the match had turned into just another play. However, none of this comes as a surprise.
Newcastle's lack of depth at midfield has been partially filled with its latest signing, Jacob Ramsey from none other than Aston Villa. The addition of Ramsey strengthens the depth in the team's heart of the pitch, crucial for their campaign across multiple competitions this season, including the Champions League. This, however, doesn’t address the team’s most urgent need and fill its void at centre-forward; they are going to struggle to score goals until they do.
Despite his speed and quality on the ball, Anthony Gordon is not a natural striker and will need more minutes in meaningful games to develop into his own in this new role. And while the season is long and it’s just the first match of the season, the clock is ticking. In the meantime, Eddie Howe will do the best he can with what he has. Newcastle United are a solid team with talented footballers and should compete for a top-5 spot in the Premier League table, just don’t be surprised how this season plays out regardless of the outcome.