A frustrating evening on the South Coast as we were held to a 1-1 draw against Bournemouth; our fifth draw in our last six league games as we continue to struggle without Bruno in the middle.
Here’s our ratings from last night’s game:
Nick Pope – 7 – Made one good save from Solanke’s first half header and was rapid off his line as always to sweep up. Nothing he could’ve done for their goal.
Kieran Trippier – 6 – Didn’t offer a great deal going forward. Tried to get going with Almiron, but little came off and his crosses into the box rarely found a Newcastle shirt. That said, he saved us a point with that superb clearance off the line late on.
Fabian Schar – 6 – Wasn’t as composed on the ball as we have come to expect. Seemed to rush some of his work and didn’t impose his penetrative passing on the game.
Sven Botman – 5 – Battled well Dominic Solanke, but was well below his unflappable best. Made a few clumsy challenges, was in danger of getting a second yellow late on and didn’t look quite so assured in possession.
Dan Burn – 3 – Definitely his worst game in the black and white; looked lost defensively and offered nothing going forward. Passing way way off, lost his man for the goal and almost gifted Bournemouth a winner after failing to play to the whistle. Really struggled all evening, all in all a very poor display.
Sean Longstaff – 6.5 – Pivotal in the goal, making a penetrating run from midfield in between the lines and getting his shot off before Almiron tapped in. Plenty of energy and dirty work, although he did fade slightly in the second half.
Joelinton – 7 – Won 10 recoveries which was more than any other player an showed some nice dribbling to get out of tricky situations. One of our better players on the night.
Joe Willock – N/A – Looked lively but came off with an injury early on in the first half. Hopefully isn’t too serious.
Miguel Almiron – 6 – Took his goal well, with a first time finish into the bottom corner. Other than that, he rarely got going down the right and looked a bit void of ideas, with his reluctance to use his right foot making him too predictable at times.
Allan Saint-Maximin – 6 – Played a key role in our goal, keeping the ball in play and bursting inside before finding Longstaff. Aside from that, he didn’t offer a lot going forward and seemed to lack support in the forward areas. Has given Adam Smith nightmares in the past but failed to replicate that here.
Alexander Isak – 5 – Looked off the pace coming in for Wilson. His first touch wasn’t sharp and quite clear he isn’t fully fit yet. Some decent touches but was on the fringe of the game and rusty in the final third.
Substitutes:
Anthony Gordon – 6.5 – Plenty energy and endeavour, adding some pace to our play in patches after replacing the injured Willock. Not quite sure what position Gordon was meant to playing – he drifted all over the field – but he put himself about and tried to get us on the front foot.
Jacob Murphy – N/A – Couldn’t make a difference with 10 minutes to go.
Elliot Anderson – N/A – Felt he should’ve pulled the trigger with a chance in the box late on.
Burn lacked the protection he normally gets from Willock and Joelinton and he will not get that from St Max, it also must be remembered he is not a left back but he did have a poor game by his standards.
The centre backs are not as composed because with Bruno missing they do not have that outlet.
Joelinton and Longstaff worked hard but neither have the vision of Bruno.
St Max needs time and this was an improvement on last weeks performance.
Lack of squad depth has to be a major concern.
Joseph(Quote)