The Times - UK (2021-12-06)

6 1GG Monday December 6 2021 | the times

thegame

Newcastle United

Wilson 40^1

RATINGS

Newcastle United (4-4-1-1): M Dubravka 7

— J Manquillo 7, J Lascelles 7, F Schär 7, J Lewis 7

— A Saint-Maximin 6 (J Murphy 90min), J Willock

6, J Shelvey 7, M Almirón 7 (F Fernández 85) —

Joelinton 6 — C Wilson 8.

Booked Manquillo.

Burnley (4-4-2): N Pope 5 — M Lowton 6

(C Roberts 75, 4) , J Tarkowski 7, N Collins 6,

C Taylor 7 — J B Gudmundsson 7 (J Rodriguez 81),

A Westwood 7, J Brownhill 7, D McNeil 6

— C Wood 6, M Cornet 6 (M Vydra 32, 5).

Booked Collins.

Referee P Tierney.

Attendance 51,948.

Burnley 0

There were 40 of them in total, not
going along the Scotswood Road, as
Newcastle United’s famous anthem
goes, but all with smiling faces. It was
the kind of picture that Roy Keane
would have scoffed at; one posted by
the club of the players, backroom staff
and Eddie Howe, fist-pumping and
beaming with smiles as they posed for

squad. Do not forget that Steve Bruce

and Rafa Benítez, the two men to

precede Howe as head coach, were

vocal in their desire for an

improvement in playing personnel.

Howe walked into the richest club

and most brittle dressing room in the

Premier League when he took over

on November 8. He has had to slowly

rebuild confidence, even if that means

posing for over-the-top pictures after

one win. Howe and his assistant Jason

Tindall also led the players on a lap of

appreciation after a win secured

because of a mistake by the Burnley

goalkeeper Nick Pope and the quick

thinking of Wilson.

Before the game Howe had been

effusive in his praise for Joelinton, the

£40 million misfiring forward. There

MARTIN HARDY

Win was reward for psychological

work with my players, says Howe

a celebratory picture in the home

dressing room after a first victory in

five months. “Together as one,”

Callum Wilson tweeted.

An overreaction, yes, for a first win

of the season at the 15th attempt (this

kind of selfie celebration is usually

associated with Arsenal) but there is

method in the self-indulgent posing.

In short, Newcastle need something

to hold on to, some hope — a feeling

in the mind, if not the league table,

that things are improving. Before the

halfway point of the season the club

have had two owners, two chief

executives, two boards, one takeover,

four permanent or interim head

coaches, eight backroom coaches and

only one new signing. They had gone

195 days without a victory. A full St

James’ Park had not witnessed a

home win for almost two years.

They are not good numbers and

they had, unsurprisingly, left a fragile

THE MATCH IN A GRAPHIC

Statisticians Opta show who was on top throughout game

Attacking threat

0 mins 15 30 45 45 60 75 90

Aston Villa more threatening

Leicester more threatening

First half Second half

Goal ‘17

Goal ‘54

Goal ‘14

ALYSON RUDD

It would be stretching it to call this a
pattern but in defeating Brendan
Rodgers’s team, Steven Gerrard kept
up the motif of the pair of them
winning on home soil. When in
charge of Celtic and Rangers in the
2018-19 season, they recorded 1-0
home wins. This victory, in the pair’s
first meeting in the Premier League,
meant that Aston Villa overtook
Leicester City in the table courtesy of
goal difference.
It was a win built on passion and
some indignation, but Midlands
rivalry was put to one side when play
stopped entirely for the minute’s
applause in memory Arthur Labinjo-
Hughes, the murdered six-year-old.
There were periods when Leicester
were superior in terms of control and
intelligence and certainly their
midfield was a more well-oiled
machine but under Gerrard, Villa
have a determination that is hard to
fully dismantle particularly after their
manager has given them a half-time
pep talk.
Leicester took the lead in the 14th
minute through Harvey Barnes.
Marvelous Nakamba and Matty Cash
between them failed to dispossess
Patson Daka, who wriggled past their
ineffective challenges, to feed Barnes
who calmly beat Emiliano Martínez
at his far post. Daka, the Zambia
international, had been selected

Disallowed

goal rouses

Villa passion

2

Konsa 17, 54

RATINGS

Aston Villa (4-3-3): E Martínez 7 — M Cash 7,

E Konsa 8, T Mings 7, A Young 7 — J McGinn 8,

M Nakamba 6, D Luiz 7 (M Sanson 77min) —

E Buendía 7 (C Chukwuemeka, 77), O Watkins 7,

J Ramsey 7 (A Tuanzebe, 84).

Booked Nakamba.

Leicester City K Schmeichel 6 — T Castagne 7,

J Evans 7, C Soyuncu 6, L Thomas 7 —

K Dewsbury-Hall 6 (K Iheanacho 86), W Ndidi 7

— A Lookman 7 (J Vardy 65, 6), J Maddison 6,

H Barnes 7 — P Daka 7 (A Pérez 78). Booked

Maddison.

Referee M Oliver.

Attendance 41,572.

Aston Vila Leicester City

1

Barnes 14

ahead of Jamie Vardy, not least for his

strong hold-up play, and the decision

was afforded early vindication.

The home side soon equalised,

however, when Leicester were just as

poor in clearing a free kick from

Douglas Luiz, which allowed

Emiliano Buendía to head towards

goal, somewhat serenely, with Ezri

Konsa applying the decisive touch

past Kasper Schmeichel. Kiernan

Dewsbury-Hall fluffed his chance

with a header at the other from a

Barnes cross.

John McGinn, shortlisted for the

Premier League player-of-the-month

award for November, is the reliable

class act in this Villa team, a general,

offering the sensible outlet while at

the same time driving them forward,

or at least trying to. Too often Villa

were not quite strong nor adept

enough to execute what their new

manager demanded of them, but they

were certainly keen enough to keep

on trying.

Schmeichel saved with his feet from

a powerful low strike from Cash who

was then busy on his own goalline

blocking a shot from James

Maddison. The home fans watched

the briskness of Leicester with

something approaching resignation.

Gerrard is building and will be given

time to do so, but, in the meantime,

surely there is only so far that willing

effort can take a team. Even so Villa

could have gone into the interval in

front. A Luiz cross was headed

towards goal by Cash and Schmeichel

managed to place one hand on top of

the ball as Jacob Ramsey fired in.

A VAR review ruled the effort,

controversially, to have involved a

foul on the Leicester goalkeeper who

could be deemed to have had the ball

under control because his hand was

pressing it on to the pitch. It is no

longer necessary for the goalkeeper to

have both hands on the ball to be

regarded as being in control of it.

Gerrard’s team chose to believe

they were victims of an injustice and

emerged for the second half bristling

with indignation. He was pleased with

how his players responded to his

criticism of how passive they had

been for the opening 45 minutes.

Ashley Young, who Gerrard has come

to value enormously in his first weeks

in charge, might have scored when he

had time and space on the left flank

to pick his spot.

Ollie Watkins was even more

culpable, allowing Luke Thomas to

block what seemed a straightforward

finish but from the resultant corner

kick, Konsa headed in at Schmeichel’s

near post. Leicester were rattled and

so Rodgers brought on Vardy not

least for his unflappability but Villa

remained threatening. Ramsey wasted

some neat footwork by Buendía,

followed by McGinn’s ball to set him

up, with a scuffed and slightly

nervous effort.

A clever header by Barnes was

tipped over by Martínez and from the

resultant corner, Villa broke at pace

only to waste the chance to punish

the smarting visitors. Oddly, the finale

was not quite as frenetic as the rest of

the contest, probably because it was

Rodgers’s team that were intent on

carving an equaliser as the home

supporters held their breath.

Schmeichel came up for a corner and

stayed there for slightly longer than

felt sensible but Villa were happy to

count down the clock rather than try

to hoof the ball into the empty net.

“We still believe we can get better

and grow,” Gerrard said. “We want to

be bold”. The former England

midfielder, who scored 31 goals in 99

league games under Rodgers at

Liverpool, did acknowledge that Villa

need to find verve and aggression for

an entire match, not just when

castigated by him at the interval.

“That’s for me to deal with,”

Gerrard said of the emotion of his

return to Anfield on Saturday and on

this evidence, he should cope well.

PETER

WA LTO N

The expert view

Former Premier

League referee

MICHAEL STEELE/GETTY IMAGES

Ramsey fires in

but Schmeichel

was deemed

to have been

in control

of the ball

The VAR was right to disallow the

goal scored by Jacob Ramsey when he

struck the ball as Kasper Schmeichel

scrambled to put his hand on it. The

law was amended after a famous

incident in 1990 when Gary Crosby,

playing for Nottingham Forest,

headed the ball out of the hand of

Manchester City goalkeeper Andy

Dibble, and scored as a result.

The law now says that goalkeeper is

deemed to have control on the ball if

they are holding it in one hand, or, as

in Schmeichel’s case, the ball is

between a hand and another surface,

such as the pitch. Given that, the goal

had to be disallowed, even though

Ramsey’s shot came very quickly after

Schmeichel got his hand to it.

Later, Leicester felt they might have

had a penalty for a challenge by

Douglas Luiz on Kiernan Dewsbury-

Hall. Michael Oliver, the referee, was

close to the incident and gave

nothing, but replays showed Luiz trod

on Dewsbury-Hall’s foot. Given that,

there might have been a case for the

VAR to ask Oliver to have another

look. However, it is possible Oliver

told the VAR that he had seen the

contact and not considered it enough

to justify a foul. The league has

clarified this year that not all contact

of this kind is automatically a foul.