PLAYER RATINGS – Newcastle 1-1 Blackburn: One standout 7, but some woeful 2’s, 3’s & 4’s

A toothless display from our fringe players today, with Ritchie’s late goal saving Benitez’s blushes – forcing an unwanted replay against the Rovers.

Here’s an assessment of each player’s performance and my marks out of 10:

STARTING 11:

NUFC XI – (4-2-3-1): Woodman (4), Sterry (5), Schar (5), Lejeune (7) Manquillo (6), Longstaff (6), Hayden (4), Murphy (2) , Kenedy (4), Ritchie (6), Joselu (3).

Woodman – 4 – To say he didn’t fill me with confidence was an understatement. They targeted him, but he got nowhere near a number of crosses and was unconvincing with several of the punches he got to. The odd good claim but looked very vulnerable. May need to bulk up a little as he looks a little too weak for a goalkeeper. A harsh rating for a youngster, but he has a lot to learn based on today’s shaky display.

Sterry – 5 – Had mixed success up against the pacey Armstrong, but made a costly error for their goal, with him failing to track the run of Bradley Dack from a cross. Didn’t exactly have much help from Murphy and struggled to get anything going with him at the other end.

Schar – 5 – Made some decent blocks and interceptions early on, but you could see him grow more and more frustrated as the game went on. His cross field passes out the back were very mixed, he gave away a few needless free-kicks and was even bullied off the ball by diminutive number 10 Dack at one stage. A mixed bag but not convincing.

Lejeune – 7 – Easily our best player today for me, which was the one big positive on his competitive return from a cruciate knee ligament injury. Looked calm and comfortable on the ball, read the play well and made several perfectly timed sliding challenges. Went close from a free-kick and saw a goal-bound shot blocked well late on. The best of a very bad bunch today.

Manquillo – 6 – Defended quite well, especially in the first half, however he clearly struggled to get forward when played at left-back – always choosing to cut in on his right and failing to really get the ball out of his feet. A steady performance.

Hayden – 4 – Tried to press Blackburn early on and carry the ball forward but showed his limitations once again. He gets stuck in, but when your second touch is a tackle then it’s the least you’d expect. It’s a real worry that he will have to play if one or Shelvey or Diame gets injured – especially when he clearly wants to leave the club.

Longstaff – 6 – Looks pretty confident and capable on the ball, spraying a few nice passes out wide, but he struggled to get into the game as much as we’d have liked. Blackburn’s two banks of four made it difficult for him, with him often having to drop back just in front of our two centre-backs to pick up the ball. Showed the odd bit of quality and was positive on the ball, but didn’t find the space to make the sort of impact we were hoping for.

Murphy – 2 – It was a big chance for him to impress Benitez, but he had an absolute shocker in fairness. He looked absolutely shot of confidence, failing to ever take on his man, having every cross (bar one) hit the first man and often losing the ball whenever he tried to have a go. He looked frustrated to come off, but he was offering absolutely nothing unfortunately.

Kenedy – 4 – He had the odd promising burst forward early on, but he faded out of the game and got caught trying to do too much at times. He has talent, but his lack of vision and spacial awareness so often costs him – and his visible low levels of confidence aren’t helping.

Ritchie – 6 – Looked more comfortable down the left yet again. Put in a great cross for Joselu and had a stinging shot well blocked in the first half, with him being one of few trying to really drive us forward. He didn’t do much, but the odd moment of quality tended to come from him – with him putting our late penalty away emphatically to make it 1-1.

Joselu – 3 – Aside from one nice pass he pinged out to Murphy early on I genuinely can’t think of one good thing he did. He works hard, but he barely won a header, missed our two biggest chance of the game (one was blocked but he should’ve done better) and his hold up play and link up was poor. It’s a real worry that he’s our next striker in line if Rondon gets injured.

SUBS:

Shelvey – 6 – Came on in the quarter-back role and launched long balls forward. A few were wayward but he played one brilliant one to set Joselu in behind. He was mixed, but he did give us moments of quality and almost scored with his head from a corner.

Atsu – 5 –  Didn’t make too much of an impact. Looked brighter than Murphy, but that’s not saying much.

Perez – 6 – On for the last 15 minutes and was quite elusive at times, playing a big part in our goal after being tripped for the penalty.

(Fancy writing for us? Send any articles/ideas over to us at [email protected] & we’ll get back to you!)

About Olly Hawkins

As a Junior Magpie since birth and season ticket holder, I eat, sleep and breathe all things NUFC! Here at the blog, I aim to bring you news, views, match reports and transfer exclusives as and when I get them.

6 thoughts on “PLAYER RATINGS – Newcastle 1-1 Blackburn: One standout 7, but some woeful 2’s, 3’s & 4’s

  1. Keegan scrapped the second string as it’s not productive or cost effective , shop owner Ashley wants a diamond out of the coal mine to line his pocket, no chance !!
    These young lads should be loaned out to Scottish lge and English lge 1-2 so they gain hard competitive football then be recalled when hardened up for the fight , tonight proved that .
    Chelsea fc do it to the best lads they have and then sell them on if no good to there club eg Atsu and on loan kenedy , Hudson-Odoi is latest .
    We don’t have a Game for a week so why drop best part of first team as they don’t have game for a week , then if games won in 70 mins plus enter the young blood .
    Now we have a game away we just don’t need ????????, please take us forward Mr Kenyon , all the best to all the toon massive ….. regards Gip the Rip xx

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  2. Only the back 4 looked like they were on professional football contracts. Sterry very good except he allowed himself to be fouled which let the Rover get away from him and head in the cross. Longstaff wanted too much time on the ball and did not know what to do with it when it came to him. Murph, Joselu and Kenedy were spectators. At least Richie was running around – sort of 1 man against 11.

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  3. Think your rating for woodman was a bit harsh. He made a number of good saves to keep in the game. Lots of pushing in the box, so you can’t blame him so much. Think he was one of our better players, on a day where most of the players had a game to forget.

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  4. Forget about saving the high street Ashley. Your sitting on a gold mine if only you knew it. Invest and save the toon and you won’t regret it.

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  5. Disgraceful that Murphy has been destroyed at our club – a Toon fan, and an exciting prospect, badly handled – and as for fans booing him off – are you the same knackers who wanted SBR out? Rafa has many good points, but handling young players is certainly not one of them. Warnock has done far better with his twin. 👿 😈 😐 😥

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  6. We have a squad and we have reserves. Give them a run out. Use the replay as a positive. Rafa, man, you’re far too negative. Game time for reserves and players coming back 🙄
    Woodman
    Sterry Lejeune Clark Mannquillo
    Murphy Roberts Longstaff Lazaar
    Joselu Sorensen.
    Simples 💡

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