‘Mixed feelings’ - Bruno Guimaraes issues 42-word Newcastle United statement after Aston Villa clash
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Aston Villa v Newcastle United: Bruno Guimaraes has reacted to his side’s goalless draw at Villa Park.
Newcastle United began their Premier League season with a goalless draw at Villa Park. The Magpies had the better of the play and then looked to press home that advantage when Ezri Konsa was sent off with 25 minutes of normal time left to play.
However, a lack of cutting edge up front meant that they were unable to beat debutant Marco Bizot in the Aston Villa goal and had to settle for a point on their travels. Just four months ago, the Magpies were comprehensively beaten 4-1 by the Villains on a hugely disappointing and, as it appeared at the time, a potentially damaging day in the midlands amid the race for Champions League qualification.
After a frustrating summer, few Magpies supporters headed to Villa Park on Saturday with expectations of seeing their side return with all three points. However, that sold out away end as they streamed out of Villa Park would have felt slightly disappointed that their side hadn’t begun the season with a win.
Certainly, that was the view of Bruno Guimaraes who wrote on X after the match: ‘Mixed feelings. I think we deserved more and I’m happy with the way we started. It’s never easy to debut away from home against a well-coached team. We stick together. Can’t wait for next Monday at St James’ Park. Howay the lads’.
Eddie Howe’s reaction to Aston Villa v Newcastle United
Amid everything that has gone on this summer and is currently going on in the background, Newcastle United could have been forgiven for putting in a slightly distracted performance at Villa Park. However, from minute one they matched up to their opponents and really tested the resilience of Unai Emery’s back line.
Their captain believed they could, and possibly should, have won that game and Eddie Howe shared a similar sentiment post-match, revealing that he was ‘proud’ of his team’s efforts: “Slightly mixed feelings in the respect that we were disappointed we didn't win, because I thought we deserved to, but very, very pleased and proud of the group of players that gave everything today and delivered a very, very strong performance, I thought.
“Especially in the first half, we were aggressive, we were everything that we'd want to be in that first period. Dominant, I felt.Just the goals were missing, which is unfortunate timing, really, from my perspective, but couldn't be prouder of the group, really.”
He added: “That game [4-1 defeat] wasn't lost on us. We reflected back on that game in preparation for this one. That wasn't our finest hour in terms of our defensive unit, but that was a really good defensive display today.
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“Nick's [Pope] not been overly worked. Not just that, but we were winning duels.
“We looked athletic in our back line.Villa are a very, very good team here. They're a very good team in general, so to minimise them to just the few chances they had was really positive.”
Newcastle United now have nine days to rest and recover ahead of their return to St James’ Park in what is set to be a mouthwatering clash against Liverpool. Newcastle defeated Liverpool in their last meeting with the Reds at Wembley in March’s Carabao Cup final but haven’t won a league game against the Reds in almost a decade.