There is a reason why Aston Villa were so desperate to hijack Johan Manzambi’s proposed summer move from Freiburg to Newcastle. The tall, quick, tricky, clever and perfectly balanced 21-year-old Switzerland attacking midfielder looked worth every penny of the record £50m plus fee Villa ended up paying and duly delighted in showing Tynesiders what they missed. For Newcastle and their disconsolate manager Matthias Jaissle there was a cruel irony that Manzambi ended up heading the winner on a day when the Premier League’s CEO, Richard Masters, was in the directors’ box to watch arguably the two teams most affected by the spending rules imposed during his tenure.
Those regulations have turned Unai Emery into a master of re-invention at Aston Villa but, in the league at least, the Spaniard’s latest rebuild has been slow to click cleanly into place. On the evidence of their fourth win in five games in all competitions that just might be changing. While Villa kicked off having won only once in the league this season, Newcastle sought redemption following last Monday night’s chastening 4-1 defeat at Coventry.
But Newcastle’s manager was also sanguine. First Joelinton lunged in, two footed, on Manzambi and then Sven Botman was guilty of another reckless two-footed, over the ball, challenge, on the dangerous Nicolas Jackson. A video assistant referee check ensued but, after lengthy deliberation, it was decided the original decision was correct and Botman’s yellow did not require upgrading to a red.
The Newcastle centre-half was probably a little fortunate. The elegantly impressive, apparently electrically powered, Manzambi exerted the best sort of revenge on the Brazilian when he gave Emery’s side the lead. That goal arrived in the 36th minute and involved an unmarked Manzambi – a creator brilliant at drifting into space – ghosting away from Malick Thiaw before meeting João Gomes’ splendid cross with a tremendous header.
Newcastle suddenly looked extremely vulnerable but they were reprieved when Emiliano Buendía’s shot rebounded off the inside of a post and deflected off Lukas Hornicek’s back before eventually being cleared by Lewis Hall. Once again, Hall was Jaissle’s best player. It was all too easy to see why Newcastle have now gone 13 Premier League home games without a clean sheet, equalling an unwanted record set back in 1998-99.
Jaissle’s frustration surfaced itself as he exchanged words with Emery following an altercation involving Alysson and Hornicek and subsequently looked suitably downcast as his side were booed off at half-time. Those home fans were not relishing the sight of Villa’s forward repeatedly accelerating behind the sometimes dangerously high home backline. Zion Suzuki had been rather underemployed but a goalkeeper, briefly courted by Newcastle in the summer, opened the second half by making a superlative flying save to keep Botman’s high velocity strike out.
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