Newcastle 2 Aston Villa 1 - match analysis

In a city where everything is black and white, Villa left the north east with more than a few grey areas – and the potential to give Alex McLeish with few more silver hairs.

The goals and result was probably the only thing that was clear cut from events at St James' Park – sorry, it's the Sports Direct Arena these days – as a snapshot was provided into the complexities of the manager's job at Villa.

Although the man in the dugout has changed, McLeish has been forced to deal with many of the same problems that faced predecessor Gerard Houllier.

The Scot, for example, seemed to have solved the Stephen Ireland conundrum and had gone some way towards getting the best out of the temperamental midfielder.

But the reaction of Ireland to his manager's instructions during the game – brazenly telling McLeish to f*** off in front of both dugouts – perhaps hints not everything has completely ironed out.

McLeish bristled at questions on the issue afterwards and insisted he substituted the player at half-time because of an ankle injury.

Similarly when Charles N'Zogbia tweeted afterwards "First time in my life im not happy playing football!!!" it hints at a dressing room which is not as content as maybe we all thought.

If he is looking for a long-term solution, McLeish could do worse than take a leaf out of Alan Pardew's book.

Newcastle are arguably a club with similar expectations and expectations to Villa and even a manager who would not have been the first choice of the fans but what has been achieved at St James' Park against a backdrop of uncertainty should act as a template for Villa.

Pardew oversaw a major facelift of the Newcastle squad and bought wisely on the back of the sale of the majority of the club's star players.

A hat-trick from Andy Carroll, two goals from Kevin Nolan and one from Joey Barton saw Newcastle thrash Villa 6-0 last season but 12 months later and those three 'star' players have been moved on and Pardew has spent the funds wisely on hungry players without ego.

What is abundantly clear is that a number of this current squad of players on hefty wage packets are more than likely playing for their futures and McLeish must be ruthless. As ruthless as Pardew has been.

For all the off-the pitch machinations Villa were actually not too bad on it and a bright first-half performance in particular could have seen them come away with at least a point.

With Gabby Agbonlahor out with a combination of hamstring and back problems McLeish kept faith in the same starting line-up which drew 2-2 with QPR.

The visitors started brightly and created an opening in the 12th minute when N'Zogbia and Robbie Keane combined well which allowed the latter to thread an intricate ball to the unmarked Darren Bent but his attempt from a tight angle was blocked by Newcastle keeper Tim Krul.

Toon new boy Papiss Cisse, who came on for the injured Leon Best, went close with a header but it was Villa who looked the more likely to score after a good spell of pressure and should have been ahead in the 28th minute.

Ciaran Clark's cross-field pass allowed Richard Dunne to make a marauding run forward from the back and the Ireland centre-back threaded a brilliant ball for Bent to run on to but he saw his low shot saved by Krul.

However, it was Newcastle who scored against the run of play in the 30th minute through Demba Ba when Villa failed to clear Danny Guthrie's deep cross to the back post. Ryan Taylor won the ball ahead of Stephen Warnock – lucky to escape further punishment as he clattered into Taylor who subsequently left on a stretcher – and the loose ball dropped to Ba who escaped Carlos Cuellar's attentions to smash it home from close range.

The visitors levelled on the stroke of half-time though when Stiliyan Petrov pinged an accurate pass from the right into the feet of Keane who controlled deftly outside the penalty area.

Keane fed the ball to N'Zogbia who hit the byline and delivered a low cross which got beyond Krul and the Ireland striker finished was on hand to apply the simplest of finishes from barely two yards out.

The second half was much scrappier but it was Alan Pardew's side who went ahead for a second time with 19 minutes left.

Gutierrez got beyond Alan Hutton and whipped a dangerous cross aimed at Cisse.

Dunne misjudged the bounce of the ball and Cisse capitalised in style as he lashed a spectacular long-range shot into the top-left corner of the net.

McLeish's men pressed for a leveller but Newcastle held on and the post-mortem began for Villa.

By Timothy Abraham