Newcastle 1-0 Sacramento Republic – NUFC Match Ratings
10. Siem De Jong (Replaced By Georginio Wijnaldum) - 5.5/10
After spending the last year of his life in the treatment room, we can't expect too much too soon from the Dutchman. But his was certainly his brightest performance in a black and white shirt and his cleverness was often too good for Papiss Cisse and his other attacking teammates. There was a couple of occasions when an intricate ball from the number 10 simply took the breath away and made you wonder what he is capable of when he is fully fit...
Georginio Wijnaldum - 5/10
Nothing spectacular from the debutant, but it was finally great to see him in a Newcastle shirt for the first time. He had a funny role as he, Jack Colback and Vurnon Anita roamed all over the shop after Massadio Haidara's dismissal. However, he was able to get his foot on the ball a couple of times, getting involved in some good Newcastle moves. He also had one sweetly struck shot from all of 20 yards which went straight down the keeper's throat. We we never going to learn too much from what was always likely to be a brief cameo from the former PSV man, and especially when his instruction was to clearly just fill in and contribute wherever and whenever he could.
