Newcastle Utd 6 Aston Villa 0:WILL KEVIN MacDonald remember this as the day he decided he did not want to be Aston Villa's manager after all? Did Bob Bradley begin packing during half-time before boarding the next available transatlantic flight?
Bullied into submission by Andy Carroll, the scorer of a splendid hat-trick, and Joey Barton, who thoroughly eclipsed Stephen Ireland, Villa disintegrated in the Tyneside sunshine.
As MacDonald presumably pondered the wisdom of trading his caretaker’s overalls for the pressures of replacing Martin O’Neill full-time and Bradley possibly wondered if he would soon be swapping international management with the USA for the Villa Park hot seat, Chris Hughton simply could not stop smiling.
When defeat at Villa relegated Newcastle from the Premier League 15 months ago home fans taunted Alan Shearer’s then side with banners asking: “Who is your next Messiah – Ant or Dec?” Back then everyone would have laughed if someone had retorted: “No, Chris Hughton.” Sometimes, though, true words really are said in jest and the former Tottenham coach certainly cemented himself in Geordie affections yesterday.
Steering the Tynesiders out of the Championship is one thing but sweeping Villa aside courtesy of a cleverly calibrated 4-4-1-1 formation in which Kevin Nolan drifted between midfield and attack was the mark of a tactically street-smart manager anything but out of his depth at this level.
MacDonald’s side had begun brightly, with John Carew wastefully blasting an early penalty so high above the bar it seemed destined for the North Sea, after Steve Harper brought Ashley Young down in the area.
Yet such initial visiting dominance disguised a naive commitment to gung-ho advances.
The word “disappointment” punctuated MacDonald’s reflections. “We started off by taking the game to them and if we’d scored first who knows what would have happened,” he said. “Even at 3-0 down, we still felt if we scored the first goal of the second half we had a chance. Overall, though, we were disappointing and maybe we were a bit naive, maybe it was too much for our young lads, but Newcastle are a decent side who took their chances very well.”
Barton raised eyebrows when, during the summer, the Newcastle midfielder claimed he was as “good as anyone in England” but that boast did not ring quite so hollow in the 12th minute. Receiving possession from Jonas Gutierrez around 25 yards out Barton took one touch, wiggled his hips and sent the fiercest of right-foot shots swerving into the top corner.
MacDonald’s side fell further behind when Jose Enrique’s cross was met by Carroll and headed on to Nolan. Although Brad Friedel parried the midfielder’s initial header, the visiting goalkeeper proved powerless to prevent Nolan nodding in at the second attempt.
Appropriately goal number three originated from a Barton corner, after which Richard Dunne’s hashed clearance dropped self-destructively at Carroll’s feet. Accepting the invitation Hughton’s number nine lashed the ball beyond Friedel.
Alan Smith – desperate to break his Newcastle scoring duck and watched here by Everton’s admiring David Moyes – thought he should have had a penalty when Dunne impeded him as he ran on to a Nolan delivery and burst into the area. But the referee, perhaps feeling a twinge of sympathy for Villa, did not buy it.
No matter, Newcastle were close to rubber-stamping victory through Carroll. Once again the goal derived from a Barton corner, which was eventually headed on for Mike Williamson to nudge down into Carroll’s path. Meeting the dropping ball on the swivel, the striker registered his second with a sublime left-foot volley.
Not to be outdone Nolan half-volleyed in the fifth following yet another Barton corner but Carroll milked the greater glory courtesy of another left-foot shot into the bottom corner after being put through by Xisco, enjoying a rare outing as a substitute.
“Days like this don’t come along very often,” Hughton said. MacDonald must pray he is correct.
Guardian Service
