Newcastle Player Ratings against West Ham as Magpies have earned a crucial 3 points

The magpies can finally breathe a sigh of relief as they are now 8 points above the drop zone and also have a game in hand. When Newcastle United defeated West Ham 3-2 at St. James’ it was arguably a season-defining game.

In a clumsy match of two halves and an entertaining match for the neutrals. But luckily for the Toon fans, their team has the edge over 90 minutes of a thriller.

Joe Willock once again proved to be the savior of Steve Bruce’s very lucky bacon that got us to safety.

There are warriors on the field who have literally saved us from another relegation panic attack and depression. So let’s take a look at the player rating and analysis from the West Ham game.

Martin Dubravka – 6.5

Made some good saves, can do better with the first goal, but I won’t blame him. Didn’t have much to do, but made a decisive save from a Coufal header.

Jacob Murphy – 6.5

Murphy had a decent game of 2 tackles, 3 strokes that were close to hit, but his shot was saved by a brilliant goal-line clearance from Ben Johnson. He is very good at the counterattack with his speed, dribbling and directness when shooting offers something different and was never out of position.

Fede Fernandez – 7

Leading the line brilliantly was to blame for Issa Diop’s header, which gave him a free header. He compensated for this with his 3 duels, 7 clearances and 3 won dogfights.

Ciaran Clark – 7

He made great contributions to the defense, apparently making 11 clearances and shedding the blood for the badge. I made a mistake raising his hand fighting Soucek for the ball when dealing with a corner but I’m not sure that was a penalty or we should start with pencil jumps.

Paul Dummett – 6.5

As I have said from time to time, Ritchie and Dummett complement each other perfectly. He dominated the air with his 4 air duels, which ranked the most on the pitch. He contributes to every defense department, be it his 3 clearances or 3 interceptions.

Matt Ritchie – 7.5

Photo by Rob Newell – CameraSport via Getty Images

Had a tough job dealing with the militant Coufal. Ritchie continued slapping his head to fight the dud for the ball. His overall contribution is very decent 2 key passes, pinged in 4 crosses got a deserved support. Coufal gave him a tough afternoon but ultimately the Scot has the last laugh. He deserves the armband and is rightly praised by the fans for having “a lion’s heart”. He gave everything for the badge and showed pleasure in pressing.

Jonjo Shelvey – 5th

A disaster class from our substitute captain. I raved about his special performance against West Ham, but he really let me down. A poor performance couldn’t even complete an exact long ball that was absolutely anonymous in midfield.

Sean Longstaff – 6

After a decent first half, he leaned back a lot and didn’t go into the tackles in the second. Overall a bad game for Sean, he really has to move up to cement his place, otherwise Willock deserves it, the Arsenal loaner deserves a place on the starting line-up and as we know Brucey rarely drops Shelvey then his position is a serious threat .

Miguel Almiron – 7.5

Miggy is really magical, play him left-back, he’ll produce more than the whole lot from there himself. His ball advancement ability is undoubtedly 3 dribbles and 3 key passes. It seems that Brucey is playing with his position again. He had more tackles and interceptions than the other two midfielders combined. He rubbed the ball when Wilson gave him a pass for a tap-in to seal the game. He should learn to stop his Ferrari F1 engine.

Joelinton – 8

An excellent performance by the Brazilian pressed hard on the field. He was known in Hoffenheim for creating the counterattack and winning the ball back. He gave us a reflection of that in this game. He has many skills and qualities like the hold-up game. He’s not a real winger or a No. 9, but he does give the team a chance to keep the ball.

Photo by Owen Humphreys – Pool / Getty Images

And we Newcastle fans criticized him for not being in the box, he was ours I think! Fabianski literally gave him the ball when hungry for the goal and gave him a present (I literally had tears in my eyes when I met him from this distance).

Allan Saint-Maximin – 8.5

Our most creative player by far! He did 3 dribbles, made 5 key passes and shot 5 shots on goal. These numbers suggest that he created opportunities for himself and has a responsibility to score himself.

Was electric all afternoon and was a nightmare for the West Ham defenders. Gave Mark Noble’s poor old legs a pretty terrible time. He elevates the team as a whole with his directness and trickery.

replacement

Callum Wilson – 7

Was instrumental as a submarine and showed us again what he brings to the team, how explosive, persistent and tough he is, he is constantly leading the channels and has created a wonderful opportunity for Almiron. I think he should have made the shot and scored in the final minutes as he dribbled past the entire Hammers defense.

Joe Willock – 7.5

The all-important winner went home from an evil Ritchie cross. Its late goals have been found to be critical to our survival. It should start before Shelvey and Longstaff. Newcastle should certainly make their transfer permanent this summer.

As a trio of Willock, Longstaff and Hayden / Matty Longstaff in midfield, this is the trio that can make us more solid in the back so we don’t need full-backs. It has all the agility, dynamism, and stamina to run the whole day up and down, and most importantly, they have grit and lust, unlike Shelvey or Hendrick.

Andy Carroll – N / A