Aston Villa 0 Newcastle 0 – Match ratings and comments on all Newcastle United players | OneFootball

We asked ‘Matt Busby said to Joe Harvey’ to give us his match ratings and player comments after Aston Villa 0 Newcastle 0.

Newcastle United comfortably the better team.

Especially in a first half they dominated and had the chances to win the match.

Villa had a bit of a go after the break but United good at the back, then Konsa’s red card seeing Newcastle unable to take advantage in the final 24 minutes.

Match ratings:

Pope – 8

Kicking still ropey but stood up well when called into action, with three decent saves in the second half. Looked assured.

Trippier – 8

Very good, very composed, more so in the first half.

Schar – 8

Played well.

A couple of great crossfield passes and it’s a pity one of BDB’s best tackles of the day was on wor Fab.

Burn – 8

Outstanding.

Limited Watkins to a single shot across ninety minutes. He keeps on improving.

Livramento – 8

Did well. Kept McGinn relatively quiet which is no mean feat.

Linked up well with Elanga, first half especially.

Joelinton – 6

Combative as usual and was unfortunate to pick up that yellow. Faded second half.

Tonali – 7

The best of our midfield trio.

Unbelievable how much ground this guy covers.

Guimaraes – 6

Wasn’t at the races until Villa went down to ten men.

First half he was off the pace, caught in possession and sloppy. I still love him though!

Elanga – 6

Should have scored early on. Not as bad as Jon Dahl Thomason at the Gallowgate on his debut but the Swede will surely rue missing that gilt-edged opportunity.

Was direct, better in the first half, but then again so were most of his teammates.

Gordon – 8

Ran himself into the ground after Eddie Howe had no option other than to play him up top.

Asked questions of their keeper who had to make a couple of decent saves after shooting from distance but should have done better from a Barnes cross early on.

His pace forced the error from Konsa which gave us a huge opportunity to win the game.

Barnes – 6

Provided a couple of excellent crosses for Gordon and Elanga in the first half but faded in the second.

Unlucky to see a tremendous shot come off Matty Cash’s midriff towards the end.

Subs

Murphy – 5

Came on with only 12 minutes left but did nothing of consequence.

Miley – N/A

Not on long enough to judge.

Osula – N/A

Not on long enough to judge.

Not much point bringing the lad on at 90 minutes and ordinarily, would have said that he wasn’t on long enough, but he at least worked an opening for himself and was unlucky to see his curling effort cannon of Mings’ head.

Aston Villa 0 Newcastle 0 – Saturday 16 August 2025 12.30pm

Goals:

Newcastle United:

Villa

Konsa red card 66

(Stats in brackets are at half-time)

Possession was Newcastle 59% (58%) Villa 41% (42%)

Total shots were Newcastle 16 (8) Villa 3 (0)

Shots on target were Newcastle 3 (2) Villa 3 (0)

Corners were Newcastle 6 (3) Villa 3 (2)

Touches in the box Newcastle 33 (18) Villa 14 (5)

Newcastle team v Aston Villa:

Pope, Trippier, Schar, Burn, Livramento, Joelinton (Miley 83), Tonali, Bruno, Barnes (Osula 90), Gordon, Elanga (Jacob Murphy 78)

Unused subs:

Ramsdale, Hall, Botman, Thiaw, Krafth, Seung-soo

(Aston Villa 0 Newcastle 0 – Instant Newcastle United fan/writer reaction – Read HERE)

(Match Report – United’s demise much exaggerated as by far the better team – It ends Aston Villa 0 Newcastle 0 – Read HERE)

Opening Newcastle United match schedule:

Saturday 16 August – Aston Villa 0 Newcastle 0

Monday 25 August – Newcastle v Liverpool (8pm) Sky Sports

Saturday 30 August – Leeds v Newcastle (5.30pm) Sky Sports

Saturday 13 September – Newcastle v Wolves (3pm)