Following on from the excitement of the previous match against Hull, featuring 5 goals and a head-push, this proved to be a drab affair in which two teams played boring football and failed to create much of note as Rémy-less Newcastle side failed to push on for a third win in a row and instead lost to a side rooted to the bottom of the table. The only goal of the game came following a Fulham counter attack after what seemed a certain foul on de Jong, with Dejagah cutting in from the left and beating Krul with an awkwardly bouncing shot for the hosts to finally get a goal, after having one ruled out due to a blatant offside, and another just failing to fully cross the line according to Hawkeye.
In additional to the lack of a foul being given in the build-up to the game's goal, Newcastle fans can also feel aggrieved about several handball claims being dismissed, the most obvious and important of which coming in the dying minutes as Krul, up for a corner, controlled the ball and took a shot, only for it to hit the outstretched arm of a Fulham player and Webb to again neglect to give the correct decision.
However to pin this loss on the officiating would be to ignore an utterly inept and lacklustre performance from a side not deserving of a win and seemingly unable to perform without their two top scorers, one of whom was sold in January without a replacement and the other a loanee from QPR who was out injured. The team's average rating was determined to be a lowly 4.51, while the absent Pardew and his stand-in Carver earned a far lower 2.68. Our man of the match, if such an honour is deserved, was Coloccini with a rating of 5.75, while Shola's sub appearance yet again earned him the ire of our fans and resulted in a 2.65.
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(You can click on player names to go to their pages)
Krul - 3.89 Ratings ranged between 2 and 5"Should've saved their goal, but there was an offside man in front of him. Got away with a few mistakes today."
"The goal was down to him, should have been an easy save."
"There really is no excuse for not saving that shot, essentially lost us the game as they barely threatened."
Yanga-Mbiwa - 4.86 Ratings ranged between 3 and 6.5
"Poor, out of position yes so that obviously had an impact but still not good enough. "
"I thought he was one of our better players. He won the ball back several times and rarely lost the ball. I didn't have the best view of the goal, so I can't comment if he could have done better there."
"Shafted out of position again, clearly not at ease playing there. We could do with a genuine RB to cover Debuchy."
Williamson - 5.50 Ratings ranged between 3 and 6
"Composed, rarely troubled."
"Pretty solid display."
"Did nothing wrong."
Coloccini - 5.75 (MOTM) Ratings ranged between 3 and 7
"Solid, very rarely loses any 50-50s, he covered Dummett really well."
"Not up to his usual high standards."
"Better than others."
Dummett - 3.96 Ratings ranged between 3 and 5.5
"Should be dropped, not good enough and his passes to the opposition keeper just completely ruin attacks."
"Solid at the back, crosses were terrible all straight to the keeper."
"Poor. He leaves so much space open and there always seemed to be a man beyond him when Fulham were crossing. He could never mark his man. His set pieces were were a mixed bag, but mainly poor. He was awful when attacking, his crosses never found our players. I want Santon back."
Sissoko - 5.54 Ratings ranged between 3 and 7
"Didn't realise he was playing for large parts. Created one of our few chances with a decent cross though."
"One of his better days but he still makes the wrong decisions too often."
"Our best player. Which is a bit like saying 'Micky Quim's favourite s***-smeared underwear', but he was good first half."
Anita - 5.32 Ratings ranged between 3 and 6.5
"Game passed him by. Outnumbered in the midfield."
"Best midfielder today, but is never going to be the creative force that we are trying to make him."
"Couple of bright bits but not enough for a 90 minute game."
Tioté - 5.11 Ratings ranged between 3 and 6.5
"Solid, but didn't inspire those around him."
"Didn't do too much of note."
"Unremarkable. Plays better when captain"
Gouffran - 4.43 Ratings ranged between 3 and 5.5
"Poor, didn't look like doing anything at all."
"His purple patch is most definitely over."
"Little service, so he had to come to weird places to get the ball. Didn't do a lot with it. Zero goal threat."
De Jong - 3.57 Ratings ranged between 2 and 5.5
"Really not good. No threat on goal, won a few free kicks but generally not one to remember."
"Did okay. Showed a few glimpses of what he is about. He needs to work on his upper body strength and he needs time to adjust."
"Feeble. Keep this up and he won't get his contract; he won't deserve a contract."
Cissé - 4.11 Ratings ranged between 2 and 6
"Should have buried the chance, not good enough to stay at our club."
"Unlucky not to score with instinctive effort, poor attempt when one on one. Feeling increasingly sorry for him."
"Very poor. I love Cisse, but he needs to up his game. He barely tried today, he hardly ever challenged for headers. I know they aren't his game, but he could at least try. His miss was awful and it was so obvious he was going to miss it. I've been Cisse's biggest fan when watching on TV/streams, but watching him live does show him to be a lot worse than I imagined. I hope he gets a few goals in the final 9 matches and stays at the club, but the current version of him is awful."
Shola - 2.65 Ratings ranged between 1 and 5
"Why, oh why? Couldn't keep hold of the ball, couldn't attack, couldn't run. Gave away a free kick when we needed to keep the ball. Why do we bother with him?"
"Abysmal."
"Tried to take on like 5 players, but he still has a first touch worse than kicking a ball off a wall."
Marveaux - 4.00 Ratings ranged between 3 and 5
"Should have been introduced earlier."
"Too little too late."
"Didn't do anything."
Armstrong - N/A
"Not on long enough to make any difference, did have a shot that's 100% better than Shola."
Pardew / Carver - 2.68 Ratings ranged between 1 and 5
"S*** formation that wasn't changed despite it clearly not working. Limited kick and hope tactics; I've seen bricks with more creativity. Terrible substitutions, exactly what I've come to expect, doesn't make it any easier to watch though. F*** off"
"Why so direct? Against Hangeland! Cisse and De Jong do not complement each other, Shola and De Jong look a pair of f***ing Easter Island statues together. Terrible tactics throughout. Also, since we had plenty of players taking corners, I couldn't really pin this on anybody, but: CORNERS ARE F***ING EASY TO TAKE. Honestly, I take better corners than any we saw today. Just get height on them, keep them away from the goalkeeper, and havoc ensues."
"Game plan was a load of s***e and that's down to Pardew. Not sure if Carver was under instructions when to make subs or not so I'm not sure who to blame that."
"It was the line up I would have played, but they can't be blamed for the lack of creativity. HBA needs to be back in from the start next week. He is our only creative player. I thought they could have tried Marv behind one of the strikers before Shola came on, but apart from that, they didn't do a lot wrong."
"Classic Pardew performance, he may not have been there but the team selection, tactics and substitutions were clearly all him. I wish the ban prevented him from selecting the team and/or communicating with the bench. So sick of watching football like this."
