Newcastle United defeated Athletic Club 2-0 in the Champions League on Wednesday night.
The pressure was on Newcastle United after last weekend’s defeat to West Ham and, though the performance wasn’t much to shout about, Eddie Howe’s side got back to winning ways against Athletic Club in the Champions League.
After coming under fire this week, Dan Burn scored a stunning header to give Newcastle an early lead.
Yet, Newcastle were ponderous and sloppy on the ball, trying to knock it around at the back before playing themselves into trouble. The visitors hit the woodwork twice.
It was especially frustrating as Newcastle repeatedly got the better of Athletic when they got the ball forward quickly, with Nick Woltemade and Joelinton missing great chances to extend the lead.
But Newcastle pressed their advantage moments after the break as they came out firing and found a second through Joelinton’s simple header.
Here’s how the players rated.
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Nick Pope – 7
Forced into a couple of easy saves early on and then a couple of really strong ones in the closing stages, with a largely uneventful night in between. A nice tonic to the weekend.
Kieran Trippier – 7
Back into the team with a bang as his wicked delivery into the box from a free-kick set up the opening goal. A solid performance on the right, though he wasn’t up against much.
Malick Thiaw – 8
Newcastle’s strongest defender with some important interventions. Dominant at the back. His long-ball distribution was useful too, when he just got the ball forward instead of keeping it in the back line. Best player on the park.
Sven Botman – 7
Beaten for pace on a couple of occasions as Athletic broke forward, but made one crucial sliding tackle and then a crucial interception when a dangerous cross came in the box.
Dan Burn – 7
Will be delighted to bounce back by scoring a genuinely stunning header, but his recent critics will point out that Athletic got a lot of joy down his flank early on. Yet, he kept them at bay and was good in possession, if not adventurous with his distribution. Sadly, forced off with a knock but it’s hopefully not too serious.
Bruno Guimaraes – 6
Uncharacteristically wayward in his passing, with his radar off-beat, and not involved as much as usual going forward, but still played a part in Joelinton’s header. An understandably subdued performance given the illness he’s dealt with this week and taken off with 25 minutes to go.
Sandro Tonali – 7
A quiet first half but split Athletic’s midfield open with an incisive forward pass moments after the break to lead to the second. Dominated a tiring midfield after the break and ensured no counterattacks caught Newcastle cold.
Joelinton – 7.5
Joelinton was bustling and involved a lot going forward, with the midfielder finding particular joy peeling out wide and running beyond the back line.
Had one great goal ruled out and then missed an absolute sitter that he’ll be delighted would have been ruled out anyway after he handled the ball in the build-up. Got the goal he deserved with an easy header just after the break.
Harvey Barnes – 6.5
Some lively movement but didn’t see much of the ball on the right flank. Was immediately more involved on the left and teed up the second with a little run and dinked cross. Needs to be doing more in a rare start to keep a place, though.
Nick Woltemade – 6
An interesting performance. Woltemade was coming very deep, not troubling the Athletic defence, but he was the best passer on the field, threading some brilliant balls forward. He got Newcastle’s move up the pitch that led to the opener started.
Yet, you’d like him to be doing that stuff a bit further up the field and he missed a header he should be scoring. Faded in the second half, too, and another game without a goal.
Anthony Gordon – 4
Howe didn’t seem to have much concern about the knock that forced Anthony Gordon off against West Ham at the weekend ahead of the match, which was made evident when the winger started. He should have been.
Gordon was clearly playing through the pain in the first half and it was no surprise when he was finally taken off before the break in some pain. He hadn’t offered much before that.
Substitutes
Jacob Murphy – 6.5
He might not have meant it, but his cross-field pass to Barnes helped create the second goal. A threat on the right but wasn’t utilised much.
Lewis Hall – 6
A very welcome sight to see Lewis Hall finally return. Instantly brought more forward thrust to the left-back position and will hopefully be fit to start at the weekend.
Anthony Elanga – 5
Didn’t see much of the ball at all.
Lewis Miley – 5
Tidy in possession.
Jacob Ramsey – 5
Thrown on with a few minutes left.
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