A missed opportunity to take all three points at Goodison Park as Newcastle’s lack of quality in the final third let us down in a game we controlled. Here’s our player ratings after tonight’s draw at Everton.
Pope (7) – World class save down low to deny Calvert-Lewin and a much needed clean sheet
Trippier (6.5) – Worryingly hobbled off on the hour mark. Handled Ndiaye well but didn’t offer much in attack
Schar (6.5) – Another assured performance at the back without needing to do too much defending. Long diagonal balls a huge asset to open up the play, although some of his punts up the pitch seemed rushed and wayward. Booked late on for a blatant trip.
Burn (7) – Great running battle with DCL and for the second week in a row performed well against a physical striker. Solid and no nonsense.
Hall (6) – Too many misplaced passes in the first half starting in the first minute. Improving defensively but could’ve done more going forward. End product wasn’t there today.
Tonali (5.5) – Poor from the Italian today. Surprisingly sloppy in possession and never quite got into the rhythm of the game.
Guimaraes (8) – Always available in possession and the heartbeat of the team. All good things go through him. Still has a tendency to hold onto the ball a fraction too long at times, but he also did some great defensive work as Everton tried to counter.
Joelinton (6) – Energetic performance and some great runs in behind the defence caused Everton problems. Slowly getting back to his best physically, but he did lack quality in key areas with a few poorly weighted passes.
Murphy (5) – Anonymous performance today. Was up against 39 year old Ashley Young but failed to test him. Will be lucky to keep his place
Barnes (5.5) – Wasteful at times today. Took up some great positions but failed to capitalise against a makeshift right back in Garner.
Gordon (6) – Started brightly and looked our best attacker, but missed a golden opportunity to score from the penalty spot. Never looked like scoring and confidence faded afterwards. Blazed a great chance over the bar in the second half. Sharp when he came short and looked our biggest threat, but was so, so wasteful in the end.
Subs:
Almiron (6) – Offered significantly more than Murphy. Had a couple of opportunities and a great through ball for Gordon who should’ve scored.
Willock (6) – Good energy off the bench but needs to work on his end product. Another one getting better with more minutes under his belt
Livramento (7) – Vibrant off the bench and a menace down the right. The injury to Trippier opens up a lengthy run in the team for Tino.
Longstaff (5.5) – Barely involved after coming on. Ran around a lot but didn’t see much of the ball in attacking areas.
Called this before kick off, just didn’t fancy us at all today due to a lack of goal threat plus the lack of a centre forward and right winger investment has come back to bite us.
Admirable though it may be to have players adapting to various positions like Gordon square pegs in round holes, yes we are doing it again.
Wilson when we could have done with him, yet again out injured.
Only positive today is it’s a point more than we got last season.
Joseph(Quote)
A lot of frustrated led negativity in that contribution. Many marks due to personal likes/dislikes (Livramento/Longstaff??) and Tonali – poor, sloppy in possession, really? He made one, admittedly major error, but otherwise was at total ease, linking, controlling his possession and throwing off challenges, all very impressively. My opinion, yes, but I see our midfield three as equal to practically anything in the PL. Our problems lie solely up front.
Tonytoon(Quote)
Will just say this Tonali marked 5.5 Jolinton 6 I’m sorry but what did Jolinton do to get that high mark these are the games he should be stepping up and once again hasn’t that is not the performance of a 150 grand a week footballer I’m actually starting to see why Ashworth apparently was open to selling him
Darren Bebb(Quote)
I Can only assume I was watching a different match!
Schar 6.5?
Tonali 5.5?
You’re on a different planet!
BykerBill(Quote)
Have got to agree with the comments made on the player ratings from Darren Bebb and Byker Bill.
My opinion is that if Gordon had put the penalty away that Tonali won, the ratings would have been like the flip side of a coin.
We also witnessed the result of a ineffective transfer policy in the summer and a confirmation that DCL is not the solution to our problems.
Joseph(Quote)
Gordon missed two huge chances – of course that impacts his rating?! 😆🙈
Olly Hawkins(Quote)
Olly :-
Yes it impacted Gordon’s rating I am not disputing that.
But the other ratings would not have been so low, seemed like rain and sunshine ratings to me.
Joseph(Quote)
From my point of view just can’t get my head around Jolinton getting a slightly higher mark then Tonali I’m no lover of calling or slagging off players but definitely think the fan’s love affair with Jolinton let’s him get away with below par performances something let’s all be honest here longstaff would have got serious dogs abuse for if he had performed like Jolinton has this season and it gets back to previous points I’ve made with the concern Howe is to overly loyal with certain players so think when it comes to marking players let’s show some consistency
Darren Bebb(Quote)
Apart from the Southampton game Joelinton has been awful, he just fouls the opposition.
He was bought as a centre forward, a not very good one I admit, but as someone who has the potential to lead the line and be the bully that he is, why wasn’t he used as a focal point up front with Isak and Wilson both ruled out.
Nobody seems to think outside the box in these situations.
Joseph(Quote)
Dude, were u watching the same match? Some harsh criticism here for what was arguably our best team performance of the season so far. I will just pick this 1 thing out.
Team is finally looking up to fitness after what was clearly a disjointed pre season due to internationals.
Tonali made 1 mistake other than that made some great passes and what was VITAL was there was interchange between him and Bruno as who went forward and who held back THAT IS MASSIVE for us if those 2 can work on that we arguably havent had it in a midfield 2 since Batty and Lee. Bruno can finally be freed up to make the forward runs he did so well when we first signed him and has since had to hold back and play much more defensive and on back foot.
Mark Ross(Quote)
Mark don’t think anyone was criticising the performance more the marking of the players my concern is the striker and right wing positions have needed upgrading since we’ve finished 4th something that I personally think would have got us wins yesterday and against Man City but has that been down to Howe not wanting to part with Wilson Almiron and Murphy one thing I totally agree with you on is the Tonali and Bruno combination which was evident against Man City so could them two play as a double pivot which could eventually lead to playing with two striker’s just a discussion for everyone to comment on
Darren Bebb(Quote)
Darren Bebb:
You’re spot on, but would Howe be brave enough to change formation?
We unfortunately have ran into a blind alley with Gordon who should be playing down the left to be at his best and Barnes who also needs to be playing there.
Two into one position doesn’t go especially when we need real quality down the right as you have rightly mentioned.
A right mess by the recruitment guys as far as I’m concerned.
Joseph(Quote)