An exhausting but precious win for Newcastle United as our 10 men beat Southampton after Fabian Schar’s first half red card at St James’ Park.
Pope (7.5) – Huge save from Armstrong in the 2nd half. He didn’t have too many saves to make but stepped up when we needed him to. Injury concern late on which he seemed to shrug it off.
Livramento (7) – Looked very good defensively in the second half after an iffy first 45. Disciplined after the red card and won most of the one on ones against Edozie. Unable to show anything in attack after the red.
Schar (3) – Defended well stepping into midfield to counteract the numbers advantage but undid any of his good work with a stupid red card. Was a soft red but he should know better. Lucky it didn’t cost us, but he’ll miss three games now.
Burn (7.5) – Marshalled the defence well after the red card. Won everything in the air, mad one crucial block and helped see out a precious clean sheet.
Hall (4) – Very poor performance. Early yellow card, muscled off the ball numerous times and gave the ball away needlessly around his own box on several occasions. Goal line clearance was vital, but needs to improve to keep his place in the side.
Longstaff (7) – Earned the biggest cheer up until the goal by scything down Brereton-Diaz, which set the tone after the injustice of Schar’s red. Robust and disciplined defensively. Did well in a tough game.
Guimaraes (7.5) – Had the honour of leading the team out as captain but was uncharacteristically sloppy in possession early. Work rate can’t be faulted but going down to 10 men stifled any attacking impetus. Showed his defensive abilities in the 2nd half and was a man on a mission to make sure we won!
Joelinton (8) – Man of the match. Scored the winner a covered every blade of grass. Colossus in midfield breaking up play at every opportunity, winning duels and drawing fouls to get us over the line. What a player!
Murphy (5) – Unlucky player to be hooked due to the red card to Schar. Prior to that he struggled to get into the game
Gordon (6) – Ran his heart out and pressed well but had limited opportunities once we went down to 10 men. Didn’t look fully fit or quite at it early on but did well to keep going.
Isak (6.5) – Great assist for Joelinton but unable to make a huge impact on the game. Defended from the front stoutly and had a few nice touches
Subs:
Krafth (7) – Slotted in well alongside Burn and held Southampton at bay. Swept up well and looks much more comfortable a centre half now
Kelly (7) – Didn’t put a foot wrong after replacing Hall at left-back. Solid and the odd tidy pass out of defence too.
Barnes (5) – Struggled to gather a pass into the final third that could’ve got us in behind. Didn’t really get into the game, but wasn’t easy with 10 men.
I would rate Hall higher. Was better after we were down to 10 men. And don’t forget the goal line clearance
Mukund(Quote)
I would also have rated Hall higher than a 4 Perhaps 6.5?
John Jeffrey(Quote)
Hall was better than a 4, Schar showed why we desperately need a new RCB just plain unprofessional, Barnes just doesn’t do it for me and not worth what we paid for him.
The rest of the team fantastic commitment.
Joseph(Quote)
I recognise your pic from Dr.Eds blog, a sad loss. I was a silent reader 😉 he’s a big miss, but I’m sure he enjoyed that hard fought win.
Toonali87(Quote)
Longstaff was a disaster
7 is an insult to the other players
Matt(Quote)
Here we go 1st game of the season we grind out a hard fought win and fans like you Matt can’t resist having a go at longstaff who actually covered loads of ground in the midfield so correct me if I’m wrong did Bruno get caught in possession more than longstaff so are you going to call Bruno a disaster
Darren Bebb(Quote)
Disagree with that. Was at the game and he did a lot of diligent defensive work that went unnoticed.
He’s limited and Tonali will offer us that extra bit of quality he lacks, but he did a very good job for the team yesterday.
Olly Hawkins(Quote)