A much needed return to winning ways for the Toon, who run out 3-0 winners against Fulham at St. James Park. A brilliant result under the circumstances, with a huge game now coming up against Chelsea midweek. Here’s my marks out of 10:
Martin Dubravka – 7 – Had a really solid afternoon, albeit a quiet one. Caught the ball well from set pieces and kept his concentration throughout the game, also holding the odd powerful strike from range.
Tino Livramento – 8 – Brilliant performance, got forward well and caused Fulham all sorts of issues. Definitely better on the right as looks a bit compromised at times on the left, but it’s clear he can play in both roles confidently. Outstanding dribbling, so quick and seems an intelligent player, too. Looking a steal at the reported fee.
Jamaal Lascelles – 7.5 – Won everything in the air today and looked really composed on the ball. Fantastic response to a shaky performance against Milan midweek.
Fabian Schar – N/A – Taken off with what looks like a hamstring injury. Hopefully not serious.
Dan Burn – 8 – Outstanding when he moved to centre back. Topped off his dominant performance with a goal at the back post. Looks so much better at centre half, even if he didn’t have much opposition today.
Sean Longstaff – 8 – A performance full of energy, battled well and took a huge hit from Jimenez for his red card. We look a far more balanced side with him in it and have only lost three of the last 34 he’s started!
Bruno Guimaraes – 9.5* – Unplayable. Yes he was playing against ten men but Fulham couldn’t get near him. The bits of play for Miley and Burn’s goals were just brilliant. World class performance and one any aspiring midfield player should watch on how to play the role. He ran more, touched the ball more and completed more passes than any other player on the pitch.
Joelinton – N/A – Came off after 20 minutes with what looks like a hamstring tweak. Huge blow.
Miguel Almiron – 7 – A bit sloppy in the first half but came to life in the second. Was quick to react for his goal – some will say it’s an easy finish, but he made his own luck by pouncing on the loose ball. Nice to see him respond to some critics through the week with a solid performance.
Anthony Gordon – 7 – Lively performance, coming in off the left hand side to cause problems. Hit the bar in the first half and played a lovely ball in behind in the build up to Almiron’s goal.
Callum Wilson – 7 – Tried everything to get himself a goal but ultimately didn’t get one in the end. On another day he would’ve picked up a couple. Put himself about and was a constant pest for Diop and Tosin.
Substitutes:
Emil Krafth – 8.5 – Outstanding display from the Swede, who replaced Schar, slotted in at right-back and looked superb at both ends of the pitch. So good to see him back in the side and quite comforting that we have more options in the squad. Looked strong as an ox, did well to match Robinson for pace and linked up nicely in attack, too.
Lewis Hall – N/A
Matt Ritchie – 7 – Posed a threat when coming on down the left and wasn’t far off setting up one and scoring another after making some good back-post runs.
Lewis Miley – 9 – Completely changed the game when he came on. Showed amazing intelligence and tactical maturity to slot straight into the side. Got in some fantastic positions, showed moments of immense quality crossing the ball into the box and flicking balls round corners. Took his goal magnificently with a cool finish at the Gallowgate End. Stuff that dreams are made of. Becomes our youngest ever Premier League goalscorer.
Are our players warming up properly before the match as the number of hamstring injuries are ridiculous?
Bruno pulling all the strings today and Miley was first class.
Joseph(Quote)
Not surprising we have muscle injuries to Schar and Joelinton when you consider the sheer number of matches both have played without rotation.
The surprise is that we don’t have more, I would say that points to having excellent medical and sports performance staff.
Johnny Mac(Quote)