Newcastle 3-4 Portland Timbers 2 – NUFC Match Ratings

3. Lubomir Satka - 2.5/10

Lubo is simply not good enough for Newcastle United. The Slovakian was given the thankless last of marshalling a Magpies backline of which he was the only recognised defender. That responsibility, which could have been the making of him, simply proved too much and crushed his performance. The 19-year-old, who is the captain of United's Under-21 side no less, couldn't deal with either the physical or mental battle with an MLS reserves front-line, which tells you all you need to know. The centre-back had a torrid time which started with a Steven Gerrard-esque slip that allowed Portland in for their first goal of the evening, and it didn't get much better from there. He failed to deal with the same long ball all evening and proved he has a long way to go before even being considered a first-team squad player at St James' Park. His display highlighted how threadbare Newcastle's squad is and, most damningly of all, saw Newcastle cursing their decision not to select Mike Williamson...