Fabianski: Not entirely to blame but involved in huge mix up for first goal, dropped ball from corner for second 4 for one or two decent saves
Coufal; Another good performance on one of the most difficult afternoons since he joined the club 7
Diop: An own goal for which he made amends with one at the other end but he can’t be happy with performance 4
Dawson: Two yellows for two horrible fouls – dreadful afternoon 2
Ogbonna: Unsurprisingly rusty on his first appearance back but grew into it 5
Johnson: Made one amazing goal line clearance and some good tackles but responsible largely for Newcastle’s winner, not always on the money with crosses but a reasonable afternoon beyond that important error 5
Noble: Worked hard across the middle with passes generally finding their men. No complaints 6+
Soucek: Neat and tidy throughout and always finding his man with often one touch passes 7
Fornals: Nothing to complain about in this display, hard working and determined as he tried to make things happen 5=
Lingard: Worked hard throughout in what looked a lost cause for too long before he smashed home a cracking penalty. Injured towards the end and limped off 6
Bowen: Struggled like most of the offensive players despite the usual wholehearted effort 5
Subs
Benrahma: Very similar to previous sub appearances. Energetic but couldn’t provide that finishing touch 5
Lanzini: Late arrival No rating
Fredericks: Late arrival No rating
Very generous to Fabianksi, IMO. Maybe a 2, if I am generous. And Ben Johnson was our best player. Yes he got beaten to the ball for the third goal, but he is not a centre back. Much better in the wing back position than Masuaku. But great team spirit.
Agree entirely. Fabianski was off, Johnson prevented a third goal before missing his mark.
Just knew today would be the day the shortfall in team depth would come home to roost.
Without certain players in the side the replacements are just not up to it .
I just personally think Johnson is too light and naive and noble , with all his commitment can’t enforce the midfield. Also dawson is starting to slip up in defence too regularly now and show why Watford were happy to move him on… I really hope I’m wrong in my assessment and would love to be proved wrong
Blown it …Sunday league mistakes just bottled it really ..really don’t want to start hearing, oh well we have been doing great so just a blip or bad day because that’s easy way out ,,,if we get beat by better side and they play better then no argument…but Dawson doing that in first half is just awful really awful againj ust becausehe has been decent signing, can’t have that it was embarrassing..then to get back in it and throw it away 1 min later is exactly the reason champions league is way out of our depth…I thought this could happen especially with everyone throwing out predictions like the game was won already..(hate that)…should of just kept heads down and go under radar ,,but with fab and diop doing that for the second well that’s playground stuff ….massive opportunity gone and probably champions league dream as well ….
Childish agree 100%…Gosh thought Noble was so pedestrian, ponderous and generally always passing backwards and sideways… Looked so much more creative and on the front foot when Noble went off. Fabianski’s errors were terrible… Great shot stopper, but always has been suspect from chigh crosses, doesn’t command his area as much as he should do…. Hammers fans far too arrogant at times with their predictions and yes every dog has its day BUT Mr Lawrenson was correct with his prediction💯👍
Our defence is truly woeful, and are we missing the protection given by rice more than we think?
Definitely right about Rice, Dawson is ponderous on the ball and passes predictably, he makes up for it as a goal threat. Dion got in the way for both goals, Balbuena should come back in against Chelsea and hopefully steady the ship, Johnston is doing well considering he is a right back to cover but the side looks unbalanced without Rice and a genuine left back or any forward.
Appalling performance.If we get into champions league with a defence like that it doesnt bear thinking about,How many goals have we conceded in the last 3 or 4 games ?ive really have lost count.
Contrary to what I am reading I thought the second half performance was amazing. To come back from 2-0 to be level was one of our best efforts of the season. Such a shame Johnson was beaten to the ball by Willock but I’m not at all despondent after today. Defenders aside, we were fantastic. There will always be individual errors in football and those generally cost points but hopefully we got all of ours out of the way in that game.
Beat Chelsea and we’re back in it. Loads of football left in this whacky season yet
Agree completely. Amazing second half and Johnson cleared the line prior to them scoring a third.
The only reason there was a comeback was due to Bruce’s poor tactics of allowing newcastle to sit back and invite pressure. Once they started attacking again the 3rd goal and looked like they could have scored more.
I personally think the ratings are a poor reflection of an outstanding second half effort by the team – with 10 men we outplayed Newcastle for the entire second half and if we had got a point from the game it would have been some performance after two terrible goals. My man of the match by a country mile was Coufal – I cannot believe how good he is. I thought Diop showed great character after his involvement in the first goal and he was a little unlucky. I thought Ogbonna had a solid return but Dawson was very poor and has been for a few games. I thought young Johnson did ok but defensively he is not so good and he will be very disappointed with the last goal. Noble was ok but what a difference when we moved Fornals into midfield – has to be the way forward. Bowen, Lingard and Fornals worked really hard. I thought Fornals was immense. I am disappointed with the result but very proud of a second half performance that deserved a point. Moyes has some big calls to make for the Chelsea game – personally I would play Fornals, Soucek and Lanzini as a middle 3 with Coufal and Masa wide with Bowen and Lingard up top.
Just lost again against one of the worst teams in Premier league history. Game management is non existent and we start letting goals in when we don’t actually have a centre forward in the squad. We need at least five players without European football and if we end up in the Eurooa League we’re in big trouble. Appreciate we’re having an unbelievable season but how do you let a goal in 2 minutes after coming back with 10 men. We’ve got away with some poor play in the last couple of games but we still struggle with players making poor decisions. We’re limping towards the finish line with a squad of about 15
Oh well. Just didn’t get our usual three early goals. Nearly pulled it back. Newcastle needed the points more than we did. They’ve helped us out in the past when we were looking to stay in this league. Don’t think we ought to give Chelsea any favours though. Could see Alan Saint-Maximin as a perfect fit for our current style of play. Alan and Michail. What a combo. Hope to see him join us in the Summer.
COYI
Fornals has proved he is a two way player and improves with each match. Perhaps Benrahma’s biggest contribution was forcing improvement in Fornals.
I wondered if the team had trained last week based on the first twenty minutes. They need to practice passing and trapping. Not coming out ready is on Moyes.
Amazing second half. Also on Moyes.
I would have given most higher scores, disagree with the assessment of Johnston also almost every defender in the league would have come unstuck there, Willock had a run on him he couldn’t do anything about that, it was an unbelievable cross put on a sixpence between two defenders at the perfect height for a very short player to head. It’s just one of those you hold your hands up and say too good, the only decent goal of the game. Coufal was my West Ham man of the match, an outstanding performance.