Despite our recent form against Chelsea, few were predicting anything but a loss and Newcastle duly delivered just that, being thoroughly undone by a master class performance from one of the brightest talents in football. After a 3 - 0 drubbing you don't expect many high ratings, and indeed only one player came away from the match with anything above a 6. Our one silver lining was Sammy Ameobi, who is starting to look like that very elusive thing; an academy product that will cut it, earning an average rating of 6.75 and a host of plaudits besides. Amongst the remaining dross, Yanga-Mbiwa emerges as the mug of the match after coming on as a first-half sub, although along with that many people are continuing to question the wisdom of playing him at right back when he has repeatedly put in poor showings there. Especially puzzling when you consider that he's previously played well at CB, and that our current pairing are underwhelming to say the least.
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(You can click on player names to go to their pages)
Krul - 5.32 Ratings ranged between 3 and 6
"Nearly gave away a goal but fairly solid, couple of good saves. Kicking decent."
"Didn't do much wrong apart from the slip. Let down again by the defence."
"Couldn't do anything about any of the goals. Lucky to get a way with a howler though."
Debuchy - 5.07 Ratings ranged between 4 and 6
"Was doing alright until he got injured. After that he couldn't keep up with the pace of the game and Pardew is beyond f****** stupid for not taking him off straight away."
"Just an average performance, nothing stands out. However not a poor showing."
Williamson - 5.07 Ratings ranged between 4 and 6
"Poor defending."
"Doesn't look right alongside Taylor."
"Didn't exactly play bad, but his run of form has faltered."
Taylor - 4.61 Ratings ranged between 3 and 6
"Should not play, but again was not exactly awful; MYM should start but again today showcased why Pardew is wary of picking him."
"Offered nothing was slow to react is far too easy for top class players to bypass."
"Please never play this man again. Start Yanga-Mbiwa every time. I don't care if he is local, he isn't good enough."
Dummett - 5.11 Ratings ranged between 4 and 6
"Average, couldn't really expect too much more from him."
"Good performance will improve on this performance."
"Played alright, but IMO Haidara is superior going forward and deliverers better crosses."
Anita - 5.07 Ratings ranged between 4 and 6
"Ever since Cabaye has left he's not looked up to it, think he needs a Cabaye type player in the midfield to get the best out of him."
"Not one of his best."
"Worked hard but some passes weren't good enough."
Santon - 5.50 Ratings ranged between 4 and 6.5
"Didn't look particularly awful, better than at LB I think but didn't really notice it."
"Out of position, trying to contain some of the best attacking players in the Country. Did alright."
"Didn't track his man for the first goal. Should have had an assist if Sissoko wasn't a clown. Definitely not a CM. What the f*** Pardew was thinking is beyond me, he should have been played on the RW with Sissoko as a DM alongside Anita."
Ben Arfa - 4.32 Ratings ranged between 3 and 5.5
"Ghost of a player after they scored, one nice bit of play but other than that nothing."
"Decision making was once again abysmal. "
"First half did ok, but again couldn't care enough to try in the second half."
Sissoko - 4.54 Ratings ranged between 2 and 6
"Bright and lively if a little out of his depth in this position. He never gave up."
"Lost the ball far to often and should have scored."
"Made some good powerful runs, and should have scored the donkey; we would be bonkers to sell him but f*** me he needs to learn how to cross."
Sammy - 6.75 (MOTM) Ratings ranged between 5.5 and 8
"Our best player, has excellent technique and can beat a man, saw Zaha today and I think he is superior; has a future for us no doubt."
"Definitely our best player, can be forgiven for taking the shot on at the end and not playing in Sissoko."
"Best of the bunch, lively and wanted to run with the ball."
"Our best player for the second game running, although that isn't saying much. Keep playing him for the rest of the season to give him experience."
De Jong - 5.18 Ratings ranged between 3 and 6
"Lively first half, still lacking match sharpness but that will come with time. Second half he only touched the ball about 4 times. Not his fault though."
"Played OK. Difficult against Chelsea obviously."
"Isolated, don't think he had a shot though despite having a couple of chances."
Yanga-Mbiwa - 3.92 Ratings ranged between 2 and 5.5
"All at sea. Not a right back. Cost us one goal and nearly another. Lucky not to get sent off."
"Gave a pen away but he isn't a full back, he should be in the centre for one of Saylor or Willo."
"What a ridiculous penalty to give away, the ball wasn't even going anywhere near his man. Played out of position again."
Gosling - 4.58 Ratings ranged between 4 and 6
"Don't recall seeing too much of him other than one good run for de Jong who took the shot on instead, predictably this trickled into Cech's arms."
"Actually looked decent when he came on. We celebrated everyone of his touches like we scored."
"Don't remember anything he did."
Marveaux - N/A
"Missed a sitter and lost the ball, didn't track back. Will get better with more game time."
"Not given enough time though he got forward at the end and missed a good chance."
Pardew - 4.73 Ratings ranged between 3 and 6
"Santon CM. MYM on out of position again. Saylor at CB instead of MYM. HBA at no.10. Leaving Debuchy on to make his injury worse. All examples of what a clueless c*** this man is. Second half was embarrassing, you're 2-0 down, come out and have a go man for f***'s sake. Instead we dropped extremely deep to try and defend the 2-0 defeat. I'd rather get beat 5-1 trying to get back into the game than park the bus and lose 3-0. Also he didn't even acknowledge us fans, Mourinio did and we were telling him to f*** off/sit down/he's just a s*** Pardew etc and he still waved to us."
"Did the best he could with what he had, loses marks for not starting MYM and including Shola in the team wasting a position on the bench that a footballer could have had."
"Pathetic, we did virtually naff all for 60 minutes."
"I appreciate Pardew trying something different but I have lost faith in him, we did not exactly hoof it today, but Haidara and Mapou needs to Start; I can't blame him for our pathetic lack of ambition; but he needs to make the best out of the tools he gets; if he did no one would want him out."