PLAYER RATINGS: Newcastle 1-2 Wolves - One 8, a few 7's, several 6's & two woeful 4's..

by Olly Hawkins · 9 December 2018, 19:52

A day to forget from a defensive perspective, with Lascelles and Yedlin costing us and Rondon and Perez performing well up top.

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

NUFC XI – (3-4-3): Dubravka - Yedlin, Lascelles, Fernandez, Clark , Ritchie - Diame, Ki - Atsu, Rondon, Perez.

STARTING 11:

Dubravka – 6 – Made a great save to deny Doherty in the second half and showed a safe pair of hands to gather some dangerous Ruben Neves free-kicks that bounces just before him. Could have pushed the initial shot wider for their winner, with it allowing Doherty to tap in, however he was generally pretty solid today.

Yedlin – 4 – Provided a decent outlet for us down the right in the first half, but made a huge error in the second, receiving a straight read after miss-controlling, allowing Jota to get in behind and pulling him down as he was goal-bound. He did ok going forward, but should've communicated far better with Lascelles for their opener, mind.

Lascelles – 4 - Totally switched off for their opening goal and backed off Jota for far too long for their 94th minute winner. Gave away a few cheap free-kicks and looked totally off the pace. Possibly his worst display since we earned promotion.

Fernandez – 6- Struggled to deal with Traore early on and was as lucky not to get a yellow card after bringing down Traore on a couple of occasions. He recovered and tried to get us playing out from the back - but with mixed success. Taken of at HT with a calf problem.

Clark– 7 – Our best defender today for me. Made some crucial interceptions and blocks. We were poor defensively and shot ourselves in the foot, but Clark (whether you rate him or not) can't be blamed for this one.

Ritchie – 6 – Did well to keep Doherty and Costa quiet for the main part down their right. Battled and worked his socks off but was not able to get forward much.

Diame - 6 - Tried to push forward early on and was outmuscling them in midfield, but didn't have a huge impact on the game in the end, with us overrun in the second half after going down to 10.

Ki - 6.5 - Tidy performance, with him getting on the ball more than anyone else and putting in some good deliveries from set pieces. Not quite as effective as he has been, but still a solid performance.

Atsu – 7 – Worked as hard as I've seen him work in a black and white shirt and showed a bit more confidence in the way he ran with the ball. Put some good crosses into the box in the first half.

Perez - 7.5 - Wolves struggled to pick him up, with him often getting himself into nice areas between midfield and attack. Took his goal well and put in a much improved performance after a dreadful display vs West Ham.

Rondon – 8 - Ran himself into the ground, held up the ball superbly, won a number of free kicks and looked sharp in and around the box. Also played a huge part in the goal, with his inch perfect cross setting up Perez's goal just after his free kick had smashed the bar.