A vastly improved performance from Steve Bruce’s Newcastle United today, who upped their game in all areas of the pitch to secure a well deserved 1-0 win over a toothless Man Utd.
Here’s an assessment of each player’s performance along with our marks out of 10:
STARTING 11:
Dubravka – 7 – A calm and solid game. No saves of significance to report, but he came out well on several occasions to gather crosses and take the pressure off his defence.
Schar – 8 – Denied Man Utd an almost certain goal with a great last ditch clearance to take the ball off Rashford’s toes just six yards out. Always looked to push us forward.
Lascelles – 8 – The skipper was back to something near his commanding best in this one. Kept Rashford quiet all night and marshalled the back line with minimal fuss.
Clark – 7 – A controversial Dummett replacement today, but he rarely lets anyone down when he does play. A shaky start but then grew into the game and did a very solid job.
Yedlin – 7.5 – Offers so much more going forward than Manquillo or Krafth, with his pace being a brilliant asset at both ends. He can be suspect defensively and switch off, but it was a very steady return to action from him today.
M. Longstaff – 9 – The best player on the pitch on his Premier League debut. A bundle of energy on and off the ball. Nearly scored a dream debut goal from distance in the first half, then went one better in the second 45 with a superbly struck winner.
S. Longstaff – 8 – MUCH better and back to his best. Did the simple things so well again and looked like the player he was last season. He and his brother Matty complimented each other brilliantly in the middle.
Willems – 8 – Commanded the left-hand side, always got forward well, showed impressive skill on the ball and put that to good use as he set up Matty’s goal brilliantly with a lovely layoff.
Almiron – 7 – Did everything brilliantly except score, with his composure in front of goal remaining a concern. His work rate is beyond question and he always wanted the ball. Booked for a shameful dive, but much better from the Paraguayan.
Saint-Maximin – 8 – His pace, trickery and confidence on the ball gave us the sort of dynamism we’ve been lacking so far this season. His end product needs work, but he is a real talent that the whole stadium buzzes off when he gets the ball. Tired late on but did very well to last 82 minutes.
Joelinton – 6 – Another frustrating afternoon for the Brazilian. Had the odd nice touch here and there, but struggled to hold the ball up consistently and cut a frustrated figure. Replaced by Carroll early on in the second half.
SUBS:
Carroll – 7 – Put himself about, throwing his head at just about every long ball that was flung in his direction for the half an hour he was on. Dropped back deep to help get bodies behind the ball, but also had one header fly just over the bar at the other end. It wasn’t pretty, but it was effective from the big man!
Atsu – N/A – Came on in the final 10 minutes for Saint-Maximin and helped protect our wing-backs as Man Utd pushed for a late equaliser.
Krafth – N/A – Replaced Almiron late on, slotting in at right-back, allowing Yedlin to provide extra cover ahead of him. Conceded a late free-kick but wasn’t punished.
6 for Almiron for me Olly. He had 3 chances today – 2 very good and 1 half chance and he choked yet again.
Agree he works hard, but he has no end product.
Sharpy17(Quote)
Keep butting the biggin on after 60 mins he frightens the **** out of so called England defenders
Davidp(Quote)
Another emotional match review. As so often happens when we get a win all logic goes out the window and suddenly our players are international class.
The young ‘un was got but he was a 7 at best, as was Sean.
As for Lascelles – we got to around 75 minutes when I suddenly remembered he was playing. Anonymous throughout the entire game.
Willems was “OK” and rather than knocking him down to a 6, I’d be tempted to bump Almiron up to an 8. His work rate was stunning .
I mentioned yesterday that when St Maximin goes on a run he’s more likely to put himself into the stand than get the ball into the box. And what did he do on the stroke of half time? Exactly that, needing treatment.
Yes – overall a very good performance from the lads, yet I notice, very conveniently for the Ashley haters, not a mention at all for Bruce and the backroom team, who set us up brilliantly for the misfiring United.
Brrrian(Quote)