PLAYER RATINGS – Newcastle 0-2 Chelsea: A few 2’s, one 3, several 4’s & 5’s, two 6’s & a 7

Another awful display from Newcastle United, with a 0-2 defeat following a Fernandez own goal and Abraham strike flattering the visitors.

Here’s our assessment of each player’s performance along with a mark out of 10:

Darlow – 7* – Like the 1-4 defeat to Manchester United, he was on the losing side and conceded a few goals, but he was still probably our best player. Denied Werner early on with a brilliant tip wide and then palmed away a point-blank header from Abraham moments later. 14 shots faced and not much else he could’ve done.

Manquillo – 2 – Came back into the side for the first time since that 3-1 win over Burnley and was pretty awful in all areas. His passing was weak and wasteful from start to finish, and he struggled to get anywhere near Werner all afternoon. Usually reliable but way off the pace here.

Fernandez – 3 – After dithering on the ball at St Mary’s two weeks ago, he got himself in a tangle again here to gift Chelsea an early opener. Another off day for the Argentine, who couldn’t cope with the pace and movement of Werner and Abraham.

Lascelles – 4 – Poor positionally on occasion and sometimes rash, with him charging out of defence on one occasion only to miss-time both tackles and leave a big gap in defence. Suffered a dodgy looking knee injury and couldn’t continue, being replaced by Schar at the break. A few decent last ditch blocks, but he was unconvincing again.

Clark – 5 – His first Premier League appearance of the season but not the return to action he was hoping for. He helped save a goal by intercepting a Werner pass that almost gifted Ziyech a tap-in, but was caught out of position for Abraham’s goal.

Lewis – 5 – Was one of few trying to join attacks when he could, but he rarely got much joy out of the powerful Reece James. At the other end he was caught napping for their opener, but did a decent job in the end to keep Ziyech and James at bay, with the vast majority of their attacks coming down Manquillo’s side.

Hayden – 5 – Was unlucky to be booked in the first half, meaning he was walking a tightrope in a second half that needed to see him get much closer to Chelsea’s midfield three. Improved in the second half, with he and Longstaff far more involved, however he should’ve done much better with a big chance he blazed over from eight yards.

S Longstaff – 6 –  Beaten way too easily by Werner in the build up to Chelsea’s second, but was one of few in black and white who got the ball moving today, picking out a few decent passes and rattling the cross bar with a brilliant effort from range. One of our best outfield players.

Murphy – 4 – Aside from from the odd decent run in the second half, I thought he was totally ineffective today. Ran into dead ends, showed a lack of composure on the ball and rarely posed a threat. The negative system made little to help him, but very little good came from him the odd time he got into dangerous areas.

Saint-Maximin – 5 – Another game where our explosive Frenchman didn’t get anywhere near his best. He did give us a few moments either side of half-time, having one shot well blocked in the first 45, however he was taken off with 20 minutes to play and cut a frustrated figure as he came off.

Joelinton – 6 – Started brightly with a powerful burst infield that took three Chelsea players to stop him. After that he was generally left far too isolated, however we did see some nice bits of link up play from him when he dropped into more of a No 10 position and, at times, did well to hold up the ball in the circumstances. Could’ve done better with one half chance on the edge of the box, but battled for every ball against Zouma and Rudiger and showed flashes of quality when dropping deeper.

SUBS:

Schar – 2 – Picked up from where he left off at Southampton, looking all too slow and casual as he had his pocket pinched by Werner – who should’ve scored. Some decent passes, but his half-hearted approach to defending is pretty alarming at the minute.

Almiron – 5 – Tried to get us going over the final half an hour, but didn’t have much to worth with.

Carroll  – 4 – Had a decent shot well blocked by Rudiger late on. Aside from that, he couldn’t make much of an impact, with him touching the ball just six times in 20 minutes.

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