A big night at St James’ Park as Newcastle set up a Carabao Cup quarter-final clash with Brentford thanks to a 2-0 win over Chelsea. Here come the ratings and comments from Wednesday night’s vital victory:
Pope (7) – Clean sheet. Tendency to punch is a concern at times but a good nights work. A few routine stops and did well to parry a few powerful efforts from range.
Krafth (7.5) – Gave Mudryk nothing and defended well. The ultimate squad player. Never lets us down and also did superbly late on to carry the ball from deep and feed Osula.
Schar (6.5) – Concentration seems down at the minute with some uncharacteristic poor defending. One great challenge on Nkunku in the second half the highlight after a reckless challenge on the Frenchman saw him booked early on.
Kelly (8) – Best performance in a black and white shirt. Threw his body in front of everything, making goal-saving blocks in each half. Tidy on the ball and added some pace to our back line. A shaky start with one poor header back to Pope, but responded superbly.
Hall (7.5) – Struggled with Madueke at times in the second half but is always available as an outlet on the left and showed some maturity in his defending in the first half. Always positive on the ball, intelligent passing and is growing in confidence every week. Starboy
Willock (7) – Played a big part in the second goal and was a menace throughout. Driving runs from midfield a real positive. Slowly getting back to his best; a big night for his confidence and match fitness.
Tonali (8) – Seemed to relish the added responsibility in midfield with Guimaraes on the bench. Showed for the ball so often and used it well, moving the ball quickly, pressing superbly and bagging his first assist with his quick pass to Isak for our opener. A classy performance in the no.6 role and easily his best of the season.
Longstaff (7.5) – The odd sloppy moment in possession, but out of possession is where he earns his wage. Defensively he read the danger so well and was constantly cutting our danger. No coincidence we look more solid defensively in midfield when he’s there. Goal ruled out too which would’ve topped off a great 27th birthday.
Gordon (6.5) – A little quiet at times which is no shock as it was a surprise he even started after his groin strain. Still looked threatening on the odd occasion and pressing from the front caused nightmares for Chelsea
Joelinton (7) – Missed a sitter early on which seems to be part of his DNA! Other than that he performed well on the left wing, not only interchanging well with Willock but also operating on the right wing and at left wing-back at the end of the match. Superb versatility, disciplined and defensively strong.
Isak (7.5) – Scored in back to back games which will do his confidence the world of good. Smart finish and hold up play was much better tonight; a huge improvement on recent performances.
Subs:
Guimaraes (7.5) – Great cameo off the bench showcasing what he does best. Held the ball up, won fouls and tidy in possession.
Osula (7.5) – Finally given time to showcase his talent and he didn’t let anyone down. Some great play with his back to goal, intelligent runs and smacked one against the post late on. Encouraging performance
Burn (6) – Not sure he needed to come on as the defence was playing well. Let Felix in for what should’ve been a Chelsea goal.
Livramento (7) – Defended well at right wing-back and bombed forward in attack.
Miley (N/A) – Welcomed back as he replaced a tiring Tonali late on.
Tonali looked much more assured than Bruno in the defensive duties and the midfield had a better balance, was a bit disappointed with Chelsea considering the amount of talent they have in the “reserves”. So it is difficult to assess the performance for that reason.
The understanding from previous seasons Willock and Joelinton had was again evident on the left hand side but Gordon is wasted on the right hand side, which gives a difficult conundrum.
We still didn’t look convincing up front but delighted with an unexpected win, but this is Newcastle we are talking about!
Joseph(Quote)
Some fans might think twice before calling Longstaff, doubt it thou they’ll not grasp balance ain’t always about the spectacular thought him and Tonali interchanged between a 6 and 8 really well especially first half
Darren Bebb(Quote)