Sky Sports pundits were split on what Aston Villa could have done to prevent Kieran Trippier from scoring his second free-kick in consecutive games.
The Newcastle United defender stepped forward to take the match-winning kick after Joe Willock was chopped down on the edge of the 18-yard-box.
As Kieran Trippier prepared to take the kick, a bandaged Fabian Schar and Chris Wood stood at the end of the wall while Aston Villa’s Emi Buendia crouched behind them. Trippier then ran up, at which point Schar and Wood split, leaving Buendia to try and plug the gap, but the ball deflected off his leg into the net.
Speaking on Sky Sports, Jamie Carragher said of Buendia: “His position is vitally important because you know the Newcastle players will split, and that’s the only chance they really have of scoring from that position.
“So Buendia goes on his knee so he can actually see what’s going on through the legs of the Newcastle players. When they split his job is then to obviously try and be as big as he possibly can and it's a deflection.”
Carragher added: “If he doesn’t throw his leg at it, the goalkeeper is making a comfortable save, so that’s down to Aston Villa, but it’s very difficult in that situation to not try and block it or not try and put something at it.
“It was at an awkward height where you can't really go with your head, you can’t go with your foot, and it’s just a little bit of bad luck.”
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However, Micah Richards, who was also in the Sky studio, suggested the wall had been put in the wrong position by goalkeeper Emiliano Martínez.
Richards said: “If that wall just shifts a little bit to the left, it makes it easier for the goalkeeper.”
While Graeme Souness said Buendia had been told to stand in the wrong place: “I think Buendia should have come out and joined the two Newcastle players who were blocking the view of the goalkeeper. Buendia is doing everything the goalkeeper has asked him to but it’s just wrong on the day.”
The win was the third in a row for Newcastle and left them four points above relegation.
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