A little bit of honesty wouldn’t go amiss with Newcastle United fans after Aston Villa | OneFootball

When the 2025/26 Premier League fixtures were released in June, Newcastle United fans weren’t impressed to see Aston Villa away as the opening game of the season.

Universal agreement that this was amongst the very worst first day fixtures we could have been handed.

Aston Villa one of our big rivals when it comes to hoping for Champions League qualification again, having only finished ahead of them on goal difference last season.

Villa Park a real fortress for them as well, Villa hadn’t lost at home in the Premier League since losing to Arsenal in the first home game last season in August 2024. Whilst they had lost only four of their last 45 Premier League home matches in more than two and a half years.

Newcastle United with a woeful record at Villa Park as well, only one win since September 2013. Indeed, if you take away the Fabian Schar two goal inspired victory of January 2024, the other five of the last six visits to Villa Park had seen Newcastle lose all five, scoring just one goal and conceding 13.

Ahead of Saturday, you then had the whole Alexander Isak cloud looming menacingly over the NUFC preparations, with added worries on how the incoming part of the transfer window had gone as well.

I think that if you had polled Newcastle United fans ahead of kick-off, I reckon 90% or more would have had Eddie Howe’s team losing their opening fixture. With most also predicting a similar savaging to last season, when Villa got at United from the start and Newcastle never got going, whilst falling apart at times in that 4-1 defeat.

The fact that it turned out nothing like the above, appears to have been all but ignored in the aftermath of this match at Villa Park, by journalists and so many Newcastle United fans alike.

A classic case of suddenly Aston Villa are rubbish now and Newcastle United only failed to punish them because Alexander Isak wasn’t playing.

This totally ignores the fact that Alexander Isak in the past three seasons has started in all three games at Villa Park, hasn’t scored a single goal there and I can’t even remember him having a serious effort on goal in that trio of matches away against Aston Villa.

Newcastle United went there on Saturday and played really well.

Away from home against Aston Villa, how many other Premier League teams have gone there in recent years and dominated all of the statistics, been the better team for all but maybe 15-20 minutes early in the second half. When Aston Villa had a bit of a go but never forced Nick Pope into a serious save.

Plenty of matches where Alexander Isak has been prolific in front of goal for Newcastle United BUT also plenty where he hasn’t been. That is how it is for all players, including strikers.

I am not saying that this is a line-up and tactics that United would ideally use on a regular basis BUT it was one that was perfectly suited away from home against a very good team who have an outstanding record at Villa Park.

Aston Villa rarely managed to get anywhere near Newcastle’s goal, whereas at the other end United regularly played themselves into decent positions in and around the Villa penalty area. A shot count of 16 v 3 in Newcastle’s favour tells you the story of the match.

Newcastle were so good in that first half on Saturday, they didn’t allow Aston Villa to get going. Remember last season, when with Alexander Isak, United were dominated by Villa from the very start of the match.

The quality and commitment shown by all the team on Saturday, with defensive work starting from the very front, that was never going to happen.

Newcastle United do of course absolutely need one, hopefully two, quality strikers available across this 2025/26 season BUT a little bit of honesty wouldn’t go amiss with Newcastle United fans after Aston Villa.

Taking everything into consideration, Newcastle United played very well in such a tough opening day away match, doing everything but put the ball into the back of the net.

The movement of the front three was excellent and both Elanga and Gordon should have scored for sure, whilst other Newcastle players also had decent chances. Just one of those days when United didn’t take their chances. This isn’t an anti-Isak article, just a case of wanting Newcastle United fans to appreciate how well the players who WERE playing, did on Saturday.

My gut feeling is that if Alexander Isak had been playing on Saturday, United may very well have lost rather than the automatic win that so many Newcastle fans are assuming would have been the case. In that false nine position, Anthony Gordon ran his socks off defending for United from the very front and not giving the Villa backline a moment’s peace.