Player Ratings v Stoke City (A)
By Wasim
November 1 2011
Demba Ba was named man of the match by Tyne-Talk's resident player rater Wasim4nufc for getting his second hatrick of the season against Stoke City last night in a 3-1 which put Newcastle United 3rd in the Premier League. Coloccini also scored highly, with only James Perch getting a low rating for his bit part in the match. Read on to see how the rest of the team faired...
Player Ratings
Tim Krul (7.5) - Was put under a lot of pressure but handled everything well. Came out to punch some balls, claimed a few corners and stood up to the challenges put to him.
Danny Simpson (7.5) - A performance with lots of passion and commitment from the right back. Prevented Etherington from putting many balls into the box.
Steven Taylor (8) - Considering he was playing with a mask after his broken nose, he came through the game with flying colours. A really courageous performance.
Fabricio Coloccini (8.5) - Kept Crouch quiet and led from the front. Assured and intelligent defending from our captain for virtually the entire game.
Ryan Taylor (8) - Dealt with the the threat of Pennant and did not allow him to provide any sort of cross which could harm our defence. He also took some blows but carried on which is a sign of the spirit within the team.
Gabriel Obertan (7.5) - Provided Ba with a cross of a true quality in the opener and always looked dangerous, particularly in the first half. Wasn't in the game as much in the second half but a promising performance from our speedy winger.
Yohan Cabaye (7) - Put himself about without really stealing any headlines. Did play some good long balls for Ba and Obertan to run onto, which Stoke at times were unable to handle.
Danny Guthrie (8) - For someone who was starting his first Premier League game of the season he was quite impressive. Kept the ball nicely and won some tackles in midfield. I'd tie him down to a new contract as he seems willing and able to come into our central midfield if needed.
Jonas Gutierrez (8) - The amount of defensive work Jonas did yesterday was unbelievable. He helped Ryan Taylor quite a bit and played a big part in our win last night, without really attacking that much.
Leon Best (7.5) - Caused Stoke quite a bit of trouble and its no wonder as he was involved in the build up to all three of our goals. Just needs to find the net himself now as that's the only thing lacking.
Demba Ba (9.5) - There's not much I need to say about his performance last night. The performance spoke for itself. What I will say though is he silenced the Britannia Stadium with clinical finishing and he always looked a threat. Deserved the hat trick and the match ball which came with it.
Substitutes
James Perch (6) - Made one decent tackle but otherwise I really did not see the need to give him game time ahead of Santon.
Dan Gosling (N/A) - Don't think he touched the ball in the few minutes he was on for.
Sammy Ameobi (N/A) - Only had a few touches in his brief cameo.
Newcastle United Man of the Match - Demba Ba
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Im a big Krul fan, and I know that Stoke have a lot of high people who are good headers, but this game showed, that he still have a lot to learn when it comes to control the box.
And the one he ball he dropped in the first half, there were lucky not to be an owngoal.
Othervise I agree mostly with your rating.
Guthrie did well and seemed to sit a lot more than usual which was good especially as he could have got carried away. Simspon did well for me and probably the best game so far, Krul struggled a couple of times but then did well on lots of crosses.
Only mistake during the game I thought that AP did was we should have went 4-5-1 as the game progressed just to kill it off, but then what do I know, we got the 3 points anyway
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Guthrie confirmed my previous thoughts that he was solid when partnered with another mobile CM. With Cabaye or Tiote, he can play in this league. It was when paired with Nolan that he was so often left out to dry.
I like "True Faith's" tongue-in-cheek comment about Best. "[He] was poor, apart from setting up all 3 goals" Sums it up perfectly, great performance for the lad. A proper assist, an assist to an assist, and winning a penalty is just as commendable as a hat trick.
Always quite liked Guthrie, but he has struggled at times and hopefully he can use this game for confidence for when he plays for us
Raylor and Jonas did an immense job nullifying Pennant who was unable to get a decent cross into the box!
Cabaye didn't look brilliant but never stopped running!
Well done, Best and Ba.
Also, Obertan had an assist, so well done to him
Let's hope Tiote's back soon because it sounds like Cabaye could use a rest.
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I was a bit shocked that he got dropped from the international team as I thought he was doing ok for them
Quote:i!
A side note with Leonel Besti, Trapattoni hasn't picked him for the Ireland squad again. He's picked Shane Long instead who's been confirmed as injured for the next six weeks! A quite incredible and totally unnecesary snub.
Trap's justification has been that he feels Best doesn't do enough work for the team. I find that hard to believe considering the guy puts himself out there every match. Demba Ba even said that he likes playing with Best, because Best works hard during the hold up play, so Ba can make the runs into the box and find open space.
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Quote:i!
Sod's law that he's just been called up to replace Shane Long less than a day after I mentioned it, oh well. Trapattoni had to bow under the pressure of my criticisms apparently.
If he gets injured then it all your fault