MacPhee meltdown sums up first-day irritations

VILLA kicked off the new Premier League campaign with a 0-0 stalemate against Newcastle at Villa Park.

- By JOHN TOWNLEY

The Magpies had the best chance of the game inside the opening four minutes, when Anthony Elanga raced through on goal.

However, the winger was denied by Marco Bizot, who was making his debut, in front of the Holte End.

Villa played the final 30 minutes with ten men after Ezri Konsa was shown a red card for pulling down Anthony Gordon as he charged towards goal. Here are Saturday’s talking points.

Two big frustrations

After the disappointment of missing out on Champions League qualification last season, Villa ideally would have come out firing to set the tone for the campaign. Instead, they were sloppy in the first half, lacking the composure to keep possession for long spells or create chances.

Off the ball, they were largely solid and compact - aside from Elanga’s early breakaway - but gave it away too cheaply in midfield with misplaced passes and rushed transitions from back to front.