Swansea 2-0 Newcastle United - Player Ratings

Harrowing memories of last season's woeful performances creep into McClaren's unpolished tactics.

Newcastle United's naive performance in their 2-0 loss to Swansea City highlighted a hidden ignorance unearthed by their muddled point against Southampton last weekend. The Swans had a philosophy and the players executed it perfectly, whereas Steve McClaren's side embarrassingly tried to emulate their opponents' possession-based system despite having neither. The Magpies' nervous attempts at splitting the centre-backs and replacing them with Vurnon Anita looked extremely raw and, even prior to Daryl Janmaat's inexcusable sending-off, they were outclassed by Garry Monk's well-oiled unit. One team had learned their trade and leisurely went about their business while the other side bumbled around awkwardly making Swansea cups of coffee at half-time and polishing Bafetimbi Gomis' work boots. Surprisingly Janmaat hadn't done his homework this week despite Jefferson Montero's exceptional performance against Chelsea's Branislav Ivanovic being reported almost as much as the situation with the Blues' club doctor. The Dutch defender simply couldn't handle the Swansea winger's pace and, after being humiliated by the Ecuadorian a handful of times, he decided to foul him four times in the first-half, two deemed worthy of yellow cards by referee Mike Jones, who gave the Dutchman his marching orders. Game over. Bafetimbi Gomis and Andre Ayew grabbed the goals as Monk's side eased to a 2-0 win. While it's still early days for McClaren's Newcastle side there were harrowing flashes of last season's dismal commitment, work-rate and technical ability that was supposed to have been eradicated after the Southampton game. Here at WhatCulture.com/NUFC we rate all of the Newcastle players performances and analyse how they did against Swansea City...
Contributor
Contributor

NCTJ-accredited football writer with an MA in Sports Journalism. What Culture football editor. Write for the official Newcastle United programme. Former video reporter at North News. Featured and published in the Sunderland Echo, Shields Gazette, Mail Online, The Mirror, The Sun and others.