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Opinion

Newcastle 1 Wolves 2 – Match ratings of all NUFC players

5 years ago
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Newcastle 1 Wolves 2  – Sunday 9 December 4pm

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

Newcastle losing 2-1 to make it consecutive home defeats.

The club now 15th in the table after only one point in three games, or 11 from the last seven matches, depending on how you look at it.

Dubravka 8 – Becoming our most important player this season.

Another solid performance with a few key saves.

Safe as houses is probably the best way to describe him. Never makes a fuss, never does anything stupid (aside from that last minute header).

Yedlin 4 – Did ok in the first half but obviously made a catastrophic mistake for the red card.

He must take responsibility of course but Rafa should never have put him in that position.

At half time, if Manquillo was to come on for Fernandez, then surely the logical thing to do is put Manquillo to LB, Yedlin to RB and go with a back four.

I’m not in a position to be giving Rafa Benitez tactical advice, but when you sacrifice your best attacking outlet and put him to centre-half, at home, against Wolves, it sets a precedent for the rest of the team.

Fernandez 7 – I thought he did well in the first half. Unlike Lascelles who generally had a torrid time of things.

Came off at half time but luckily Clark is there to step in and we could see Lejeune back in the near future.

Lascelles 5 – Didn’t think he had a good game at all.

Caught for the first goal and generally looked lethargic and static all afternoon. In particular for the Wolves winner, what was he doing?

Didn’t look fit at all. He is the main man and the captain, but it would be interesting to see who would be Rafa’s main two centre halves, if all were fully fit.

Clark 7 – Another good performance from Clark.

Was somewhat of a forgotten man not so long ago but is chipping in with reliable performances again. On a day when the back five as a whole was somewhat all over the place, individually I thought he did well.

Ritchie  6 – Gave his all but was completely wasted at left wing back.

I don’t think he looked comfortable or happy in that position. At most points in the game couldn’t get high enough up the pitch to do anything.

Ki 5 – I didn’t see much of him at all today. Was he even playing?

A very quiet and ineffectual day at the office for him. Don’t think the formation helped him either.

When he did get the ball and looked up, rarely was there an option in front of him except to lump it up to Rondon.

Diame 6 – A poor performance from the big man but he did try his best to make things happen.

Again, I go back to the formation being to blame with Diame appearing to be the only player in the team doing the ‘donkey work’. Was knackered after an hour and that showed every time he got on the ball.

Atsu 6 – He ran hard and tried his best but his efforts were fruitless today.

Not sure why he got a game ahead of Murphy today, who did well during the week, but that obviously isn’t my decision to make.

Perez 7 – Had a decent game, scored a good goal and got MOM on Sky. I’ll never condone any supporter booing him but I have no time for Perez if he continues with this stupid disrespectful celebration.

Rondon 7 – Another good game from Rondon up front.

Held the ball up brilliantly and really bossed the Wolves defence in the first half an hour.

The game changed for him after the sending off as he became more isolated.

Subs:

Manquillo 5. – Went down with a touch of cramp having been on the pitch for 45 minutes, which is a strange one.

Doherty, the wing back was on the six yard box for their winner… I don’t think we could expect him to pop up there.

“Either way, he let many of the Wolves players run straight past him as they scored their winner. That is not good enough.”

Joselu – N/A (Not on long enough to judge)

Kenedy – N/A (Not on long enough to judge)

Stats from BBC Sport:

Newcastle 1 Wolves 2

Goals:

Newcastle: Perez 23 (Yedlin red card 57)

Wolves: Jota 17, Doherty 90+4

Possession was Wolves 49% Newcastle 51%

Total shots were  Wolves 13 Newcastle 12

Shots on target were Wolves 6 Newcastle 4

Corners were  Wolves 6 Newcastle 4

Referee: Mike Dean

Newcastle United:

Dubravka, Yedlin, Lascelles, Fernandez (Manquillo 46), Clark, Ritchie, Diame, Ki, Atsu (Kenedy 89), Rondon (Joselu 86), Perez

Unused Subs:

Woodman, Longstaff, Muto, Dummett

Crowd: 50,223 (Wolves 3,000)

(Read the instant NUFC fan/writer reaction to the defeat HERE)

You can follow the author on Twitter @JonathanComyn
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