My Newcasle United Player Ratings vs Chelsea (Away)

Player Ratings

Tim Krul (7) - Did very little wrong and unfortunately could do nothing about both their goals. Dived the right way for the penalty though.

Danny Simpson (6) - Defended reasonably well but was poor going forward. So far he has attempted 8 crosses and only 1 of them have found a teammate. Was therefore substituted in the second half.

Steven Taylor (7) - Looked fairly solid at the back although Chelsea seemed to drop down a few gears in the second half.

Fabricio Coloccini (7) - Had a busy first half, marking Torres but considering this was his first start of the season he did fairly well.

Davide Santon (6.5) - Decent enough game from him although he hardly had the chance to go forward in the first half. Did better in the second half.

Vurnon Anita (6) - Struggled at times in the game and gave away the penalty at a point where we were doing fairly well. Will learn from it I'm sure and he did do some good things as well. I remember him winning a few tackles.

Yohann Cabaye (6.5) - Had a better game than he did last week, however his set pieces were poor. It was the one area we could have had an advantage over Chelsea but that unfortunately did not happen.

Jonas Gutierrez (6.5) - Worked hard but did not influence the game as much as we know he could.

Hatem Ben Arfa (7.5) - Was our most dangerous player and showed many glimpses of his class. We needed him to see more of the ball in the final third if we wanted to get something out of the game which hardly happened.


Demba Ba (6.5) - Was more involved than Papiss Cisse but only really had two chances in the whole match. He should have scored with the chance towards the end but Cech seemed to guess right when a goal looked certain.

Papiss Cisse (6) - Has had a poor start to the season but then again he has hardly had chances in front of goal. He generally is not involved in build up play that much so if he is not given chances he is very ineffective on the field. Should probably have been substituted but we did not have a striker on the bench!

Substitutes
Ryan Taylor (7) - Did not do too badly when he came on. Set up Ba with a nice header at the back post and also made one notable clearance in the box.

Sylvain Marveaux (6) -  Had one or two nice touches but did not see much of the ball in the 15 minutes he was on for.

James Perch (7) - Did well when he came on.

Newcastle United Man of the Match - Hatem Ben Arfa

My Newcastle United Player Ratings vs Tottenham (Home)

Player Ratings

Tim Krul (7) - A solid performance from Krul in goal, apart from may be one bad touch which almost allowed Defoe to win the ball. Punched some crosses nicely and came out to collect the ball too on a few occasions.

Danny Simpson (6.5) - A mixed game for Simpson today. Did some good things, such as provide the cross which led to Ba's opener and made a superb last ditch tackle when Lennon was on the brink of shooting when in some space. Also mixed that good with some not so good moments, like when he fouled Bale a few times and looked in danger of potentially being sent off.

Steven Taylor (8) - For someone in his first competitive game back after a long lay off I thought he was excellent. Won numerous headers, was calm in possession, and showed why he was missed when injured.

James Perch (8) - Just like his central partner, he was excellent. Strong in the tackle and looked very assured at the back.

Davide Santon (8) - Always willing to bomb forward, he seemed to lift the crowd, during some of his bursts forward. Also did his defensive duties and was only once beaten by Lennon if my memory serves me correct.

Cheick Tiote (7.5) - A typical Tiote performance today. Always in the thick of things and won several challengers. Was so glad he never went off injured after the initial scare early on.

Yohan Cabaye (6) - Below par performance from Yohan. Worked hard though but gave the ball away several times and just looked off his best today.

Jonas Gutierrez (7) - A solid captains performance from him. Worked exceptionally hard, played in a different position each half but won his fair share of freekicks and fought for the cause superbly.

Hatem Ben Arfa (8.5) - Showedmany glimpses of his best today. Looked up for it and although he wasn't heavily invlved in the first half, when he was he looked our most dangerous player. That theme continued for the rest of the game and it was evident when he won us the penalty and then insisted on taking it, to give us the vital three points.

Demba Ba (7.5) - Another who was perhaps not heavily involved but worked really hard and got his reward with an expertly taken goal just when we needed some inspiration. Was better than his strike partner today.

Papiss Cisse (6) - Was involved far too little and never really got a chance in the game which will be something to work on in the next game.

Substitutes
Vurnon Anita (6.5) - Had a nervous start, giving the ball away close to his own penalty area but his passing was good and he ventured forward nicely towards the end, as we looked to counter attack.

Gabriel Obertan (6) - A mixed few minutes for him as he helped the team see out the game.

Newcastle United Man of the Match - Hatem Ben Arfa