OPINION
Newcastle United travelled to Selhurst Park to take on Crystal Palace on Saturday as they continued their search for their first win of the season.
Rafa Benitez made a few changes to his side that started the 3-1 defeat to Arsenal last weekend which brought the total number of changes he had made to his side so far this season up to 17.
Yet despite tinkering with his team once again the Magpies put in a disappointing performance which saw them lucky to take a point from the game as the match ended 0-0.
Nothing But Newcastle has delivered ratings for all the Magpies players after their performances against Palace with two players submitting displays which bordered on embarrassing to earn them a 2/10:
Goalkeeper and defence
Martin Dubravka – 8 – Made some comfortable saves in the first-half but his display shouldn’t be underestimated as worst keepers probably would have conceded in the first-half. Kept the Magpies in it by making important saves, especially at the tail-end of the game.
DeAndre Yedlin – 6 – Gave away a free-kick right on the edge of the box in the 23rd of the minute as he completely lost track of where he was. However DeAndre Yedlin did shows signs that he had the defensive awareness to handle the threat of Wilfried Zaha, which is no easy task.
Jamaal Lascelles – 8 – Had a couple of out-of-character dubious moments and even worryingly, carelessly gave the ball away in the 77th minute which could have proven costly. Yet aside from that did put in several important tackles and blocks to help his side record a clean sheet.
Federico Fernandez – 8 – Calmness personified, easily starting to look like the best signing the Magpies made this summer as he handles everything in his stride. Played in a perfect free-kick from a deep position in the 52nd minute which Matt Ritchie flicked towards Joselu who ambitiously tried to turn home with a bicycle kick. Made a sloppy error in the 79th minute which Lascelles stopped from being costly.
Paul Dummett – 4 – Let the Palace winger Andros Townsend storm past him as soon as the game kicked-off and was lucky not to be punished. The tricky winger continued to get the better of Dummett throughout the game.
Midfield
Matt Ritchie – 4 – Some neat exchanges with Jonjo Shelvey in the early stages but missed a golden opportunity to play Kenedy through on goal in the 34th minute as he simply didn’t lift his head. Given his quality, should have done more to influence the game.
Jonjo Shelvey – 7 – His passing has been much missed during recent absence from the team as he demonstrated his range of passes from the get go. Shelvey constantly had to help out his defence and did well on several occasions from a defensive perspective.
Mohamed Diame – 6 – Gave away a free-kick in a dangerous position in the 15th minute after bringing down Wilfired Zaha in a clumsy fashion, lucky his keeper got a strong hand to it, to keep the score 0-0. Diame looked more comfortable with Shelvey playing alongside him and at least tried to help Yedlin deal with Palace’s attack as the right-back needed help.
Kenedy – 2 – Great play by Shelvey led to Kenedy getting the ball completely in space on the left-wing and instead of sending a scintillating ball across the face goal, calmly passed into Hennessey’s hands. The winger’s lack of affect on the game given his ability was embarrassing and it seems that his head is way up in the clouds.
Attack
Ayoze Perez – 2 – The attacker can’t even work the goalkeeper when a chance is gifted to him. This was shown in the eighth minute of the match when Perez rightly jumped on an error made by Palace defender James Tomkins to have a free run at goal but instead of charging forward and slotting the ball home, the Magpies attacker tamely fired it at Hennessey. The biggest contribution the attacker made to game was the way he shockingly over sold every foul on him, embarrassment.
Salomon Rondon – 3 – Was starved of service in the first-half as Crystal Palace had the better of possession and looked the team most likely to score. The forward was dragged off at half-time and it’s hard to see why as it was hardly his fault, his teammates weren’t creating chances for him.
Substitutes
Joselu on for Rondon (45) – 4 – Successfully had more chances at goal than Rondon when he came on but that wasn’t a hard task. Though ended up being isolated just like his attacking teammate due to the lack of services provided.
Christian Atsu on for Ritchie (71) – 4 – Ineffective and his introduction to the game hardly made a difference.
Yoshinori Muto on for Perez (80) – N/A – Hardly got a chance to showcase his talent.
