Newcastle 2 Aston Villa 1: Closer to relegation zone than European football

What can I possibly write that will make it easier to accept that under this manager, we are going nowhere? I could try with 'our Academy players are getting some chances' but I'm not sure that is going to do it and I think we just have to accept that we all knew this was coming and we really shouldn't be surprised.

But there are positives. Stephen Ireland apparently told the manager to 'f**k off' which resulted in him getting taken off at half time and Barry Bannan coming on. It is positive, if true, because players are now telling the manager what we all think and again, if true, it is a horrid signal to everyone associated with the club.

The game also finished with Bannan and Gardner on the pitch and these two, given more games and time will come good for us. They play for the club first and that is what you need on the pitch. It was also nice to see Robbie Keane play such an influential role again and score our goal.

The result is the result

But, we lost and sure there were moments when we worked that extra bit which resulted in us thinking we looked good, but it was just that we tried a little bit and I like to think it was all because of Robbie Keane - he really has been the difference since he joined and I'm actually a little worried about what will happen when he leaves.

So defeat means we stay in 13th place - eight points from the relegation zone and twelve points from the target set by Aston Villa CEO Paul Faulkner, of European football.

I can not see that happening now, I wonder what happens at Aston Villa when targets are not met?

Man of the match

If you can spare a moment - please vote for your man of the match to the right. I think I know where this vote will end up, but please, just for our end of season awards.