Newcastle vs West Ham player ratings: Aguerd solid but Saint-Maximin fails to impress
2 years ago
Aguerd #Aguerd
Newcastle 1-1 West Ham (Wilson 3′ | Paqueta 32′)
Newcastle and West Ham had to settle for a point on Saturday evening at St James’ Park, with Lucas Paqueta cancelling out Callum Wilson’s early goal.
VAR had ruled out Joe Willock’s goal within two minutes of the first whistle, only for Wilson to open the scoring almost instantly from the restart thanks to a beautifully weighted assist from Sean Longstaff.
Those opening three minutes signalled a long day for West Ham at St James Park, with high-flying Newcastle supporters no doubt anticipating plenty of goals and chances. But it was West Ham who took control of much of the rest of the game through Declan Rice and Paqueta as Newcastle’s midfield suffered without the suspended Bruno Guimaraes.
It was Paqueta, a close friend of Guimaraes, who levelled the score after escaping Kieran Trippier’s sights at the back post. A pre-game talking point was the return of winger Allan Saint-Maximin, starting his first Premier League game since August. But the fan-favourite failed to impress before he was replaced by new signing Anthony Gordon.
Gordon almost made the perfect start to his debut, threading a pass into Wilson, who looked set to score if not for an incredible last-ditch tackle by Nayef Aguerd. The final moments of the match belonged to Newcastle as they searched for a winner, only to be denied and forced to just the single point.
More from Football Newcastle player ratings
Pope – Conceded his first goal in nine and a half hours but played fine other than that 7/10
Trippier – Lost Paqueta for his goal but found plenty of space in attack 6/10
Schar – Gave the ball away to Antonio twice and was saved by defensive partner Botman 6/10
Botman – Stayed firm at the back whilst West Ham pressured his side throughout the game. Delivered some accurate long balls forward too 7/10
Burn – Played fine, but didn’t seem to link up will with ASM on the left, who played poorly 6/10
Joelinton – Was overun in midfield by Rice today and didn’t looked his comfortable self 6/10
Longstaff – Provided a perfectly weighted pass for Wilson’s opener 7/10
Willock – Looked lively early on the right with Almiron and Trippier, but looked uncomfortable at times as West Ham took control 6/10
Almiron – Had a blank tonight save for a few sparks early 6/10
Wilson – Scored Newcastle’s first goal after catching West Ham back four off guard and almost caught a second 8/10
Saint-Maximin – Sped past Coufal down the left a few times but ultimately played poorly until he was replaced by Anthony Gordon 5/10
Substitutions:
Gordon – Came on in the 69th minute to much applause and his pass through to Wilson nearly gave Newcastle a 2-1 lead. 7/10
Murphy – 6/10
Anderson – 7/10
West Ham player ratings
Fabianski – Was completely on it tonight apart from the opening few minutes. Saved a powerful header from Wilson in the 81st minute that surely would have won the game. 7/10
Coufal – Saint-Maximin sped past him a few times but looked positive going forward 6/10
Kehrer – His mistake led to Wilson’s goal and he was subbed off for Ben Johnson at half-time. 5/10
Ogbonna – Part of a fairly solid defence but nothing spectacular. 6/10
Aguerd – Was the best defender on the pitch and his tackle on Wilson in the 75th minute no doubt saved West Ham from going 2-1 down. 8/10
Emerson – A solid game as offered himself going forward as part of a strong West Ham defence 7/10
Paqueta – Was central in West Ham’s spells of possession and equalised by stabbing home 7/10
Rice – Took control of the midfield with Paqueta as his side surprisingly took charge of the game 7/10
Bowen – Attacked lively but failed to fully dent Newcastle’s defence over 90 minutes 7/10
Benrahma – Managed to find space outside Newcastle’s box and pepper Pope with shots, but nothing too threatening 7/10
Antonio – Harried Schar into making some mistakes but couldn’t match Wilson’s clinical finishing 7/10
Substitutions:
Johnson – Looked much more solid in place of Kehrer. 6/10
