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Opinion

St Patrick’s Athletic 0 Newcastle United 2 – Match ratings of all NUFC players

6 years ago
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St Patrick’s Athletic 0 Newcastle United 2  – Tuesday 17 July 7.45pm

We asked Jonathan Drape-Comyn to give us his match ratings after last night’s match.

Newcastle winning the first of five pre-season friendlies, with 20 different players getting a run out.

First set of match ratings for the season. Important not to take it too seriously!

First Half

Darlow – 7. Didn’t really have anything to do in his first half back. Picked up an injury at the end of the half but gets a 7 just for an incredible tan! I think his appearance, along with Sels (rather than the three other keepers on the books), suggests that Rafa could be putting both in the shopping window.

Manquillo – 6. Did ok, although didn’t look too quick across the ground, and dare I say it, looked like he had gained a little weight.

Lejeune – 6. The centre half did not have a lot of defending to do, so spent most of the time bringing the ball out of defence. The long balls didn’t really work though and he lost possession a few times.

Yarney – 6. Struggled in the first half with the quick pace and physicality of St Pats. Looked comfortable on the ball.

Fernandez – 5. Had a bit of a nightmare first game if I am honest. Very young, so a long way to go for him, but he looked like a bag of nerves and very lightweight. St Pats were up for the game and so Fernandez maybe got a shock by this pace and physicality of the game.

Aarons – 6. Typical Rolando Aarons really. Had a bright opening 15 minutes with a few nice touches but didn’t do anything else from that point really. Caught napping.

Diame – 7. Dominated the first half, mainly due to his size and strength. Overall, didn’t look like he had lost much of what made him good in the second half of last season.

Longstaff – 7. Please don’t get carried away just yet! However, the young lad did have a good game and scored a very well taken goal.

Ritchie – 7. Looked up for it! Tried to create as much as he could down the right hand side. I hope it’s not the last time I see him in a Newcastle shirt.

Perez – 6. Captain for the night. He had a quiet game alongside Joselu. Wasn’t up to much.

Joselu – 6. Likewise, didn’t do anything at all. Struggled to even get about the pitch at times.

Second Half

Sels – 6. Again, rather boring! He didn’t have a lot to do. I am surprised that he hasn’t left yet. Call me naive but I bet he is on a decent contract at Newcastle.

Roberts – 7. I was really happy with how he did. A few decent deliveries and a few good balls. I doubt he is going to get a chance at all this year as he isn’t good enough for the first team but did well on the night.

Yarney – 6. As mentioned before, looked nervous (as you’d expect) but didn’t do anything majorly wrong.

Clark – 7. Came on and looked very solid. It has been a strange year for Clark going from one of the best players in the team to essentially a back up player. However, I am very confident he will do a decent job this year.

Yedlin – 7. My favourite player of course. Did well when he came on, showed great pace and didn’t have much to do defensively.

Atsu – 6. He may have scored from the spot but I didn’t think he looked up to much when he came on. Nor did he look as fit as I have seen him before.

Shelvey – 7. As you’d expect, strolled around the centre of the pitch. Passing was generally spot on. Ability wise, streaks ahead of most players out there.

Longstaff – 7. A great experience for him playing next to Shelvey and didn’t look out of place at all.

Kenedy – 5. Showed a few great pieces of skill and tried to go forward but invariably lost the ball.

Armstrong – 6. Had something about him last night for sure. He even looked like he had gained an extra yard of pace. Having played against him a few times in our younger years, he was never that quick, but really looked like he had taken a step up fitness-wise after spells at Bolton and Blackburn.

Gayle – 6. Same stuff as usual from Gayle, buzzed around but still lacks that killer instinct that we saw in the Championship.

You can follow the author on Twitter @JonathanComyn
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