Newcastle United are not having a great run lately and their manager Rafael Benitez is struggling in the transfer market to find suitable resources who will guide them stay up in the Premier League following last years promotion. The Magpies, however, had the toughest outing of the campaign this evening against league leaders Manchester City at Etihad who suffered their first domestic defeat last week against Liverpool and determined to bounce back with a thumping win against the minnows.
Newcastle, as expected, opted to sit back deep in order to see off the league leaders and escape with a draw. But the Citizens have been too difficult to handle all season and once again grabbed a routine 3-1 win over the Magpies. Sergio Aguero scored a hat-trick and brings the Citizens back to winning ways.
Below are the Newcastle United players rated from their defeat against Manchester City.
Karl Darlow: 6
Made some decent stops but could have done little to stop Aguero from scoring either of his goals.
Javier Manquillo: 5.5
Made some crucial interception and impressed with his defending traits during the first-half but conceded a penalty after bringing down his ex-Liverpool teammate Raheem Sterling inside the box and was forced to leave the field following an injury minutes later. Was replaced by DeAndre Yedlin.
Isaac Hayden: 5
Made some crucial clearances, interceptions and tackles but struggled to find the correct pass and lost a number of duels dangerously.
Jamaal Lascelles: 6
Showed strong aerial presence but failed to contain Sergio Aguero as the entire defence was at fault during the Argentine’s first-half goal.
Ciaran Clerk: 6
Assisted Murphy to score Newcastle’s solitary goal of the game but failed to contain the trio of Sane, Sterling and Aguero. They were too good to be dealt by the Irishman.
Paul Dummett: 5.5
Didn’t offer much in attack and focused on his defensive work rate. Was kept on his toes by Raheem Sterling down the left-hand flank.
Jacob Murphy: 7.5
The only Newcastle United player who looked to have some expectation from the game. The young winger scored with a lovely finish and also created a few chances towards the very end.
Mohamed Diame: 6
Mostly screened his defence to avoid a humiliation from the free-scoring Citizens and didn’t offer much going forward due to excessive pressure of pressing and passing from the opponents.
Jonjo Shelvey: 6.5
Shelvey made some ambitious runs, tested Ederson late in the game with a decent effort, but lacked support up front and could not make much contribution for the visitors.
Christian Atsu: 5
Had a quiet evening of football and was replaced by Ayoze Perez in the second half.
Joselu: 5
Denied a defeat with an equalizer against Swansea City but failed to make any goal-bound attempt all evening and mostly spent isolated up front. Was replaced by Dwight Gayle in the second-half.
Substitutes
Ayoze Perez: 5.5
Looked more effective than Atsu but the final delivery disappointed him the most.
DeAndre Yedlin:6
Yedlin made some crucial blocks and interception late in the game since coming on in place of Manquillo.
Dwight Gayle: 5.5
Had an opportunity to pull one back in closing seconds but his header went wide off the mark.
