Newcastle vs Blackburn Team Ratings

People are giving Simpson a better rating than they should. He was offensively better today, but Blackburn's best chances(excluding the goal) both came from cross from the left and Simpson not being aware of a player behind him and the Olsson nearly scoring twice, one hit the bar and the other past the post.

 

Krul - 5: No saves to make, shanked a goal kick
Simpson - 8: Excellent going forward, linked well with Obertan, looked a little shaky defensively
Coloccini and Taylor - 8: Both solid.
RTaylor - 6: A bit hit and miss.
Obertan - 8: Caused them problems all game, his laziness irritates me though so he can score no higher than 8.
Cabaye - 7: Bit of a quiet game, played a blinding pass to Best in the second half though
Tiote - 8: Got caught in possession a bit early on, but otherwise looked back to his very best
Jonas - 7: Not as influential as he usually is but still played well
Ba - 10: Hatrick hero. Some pleb said before the game that him and Best wouldn't work as a partnership (). From the start he imposed himself on the game more than Shola ever does, his movement and work rate were superb.
Best - 7: Lacked composure in front of goal, did well for the first goal though.

 

Krul - 6 - Not much to do, looked a bit dodgy at the start of the 2nd half
Raylor - 7 - Was okay bar his mistake, did well second half
Saylor - 8 - His concentration was much better than at Villa
Colo - 8 - Solid as a rock
Simpson - 7 - Solid overall, but made a few errors start of the second half
Jonas - 7 - Not his best attacking wise but helped out defensively pretty well (as per) and kept possesion decently enough
Tiote - 8 - His best perfomance of the season, the real Cheick is making his way back
Cabaye - 7 - Pretty quiet but went about his job fine and was spraying some great passes around
Obertan - 8 - Great display, so much pace and looked more composed today. His final ball was still hit and miss but the more he plays, the better he'll be imo
Ba - 9 - Brilliant. First goal was world class, and his overall link up play with Best and the midfield was key today. Works so hard as well
Best - 7 - Was never going to score today, one of those games. His overall play and passing was decent, though.

 

Krul - 6 - Nothing to do and nothing he could do about the goal

Simpson - 6 - Better offensively but defensively poorer than the last two Prem games.
Taylor - 7 - Solid.
Colo - 7 - Solid.
Raylor - 6 - 2 great defensive headers but a couple of mistakes. Offensive play not on par with recent performances.

Obertan - 8 - Best game so far. Improvement on his shooting and he could bag a couple of goals for us.
Tiote - 8 - Was in Beast mode today!
Cabaye - 7 - Quieter than usual but dictated game when they went to 10 men and couldn't man mark him.
Jonas - 6 - Offensively not at his best, defensively very good.

Best - 7 - Only thing missing was the finishing or he could have had a hat-trick himself.
Ba - 9 - MOM, just shades Tiote and Obertan because of his goals. Goals win games and he won the game for us. Best game so far and great overall play.

Subs:
Ben Arfa - 7 - Very bright.
Marv - 6 - Also bright but not as bright as Arfa so gave him one less.

 

I hope Ben Arfa doesn't make a habit of trying to do it all himself. He did it a couple of times when Simpson was the free on the right.

 

Could have shot when he tried to find Best, though, to be fair.

 

Yeah he can be selfish like Taarabt at times but I think that maybe it was because we were 3-1 up and there was less than 10 mins left on the clock.

 

I bet he was desperate to score!

 

It looks like I'm the only one but to me Raylor was immense.... He won some very important tackles and he really handled Hoilett (sp) really well. He may of gave away possession for the goal but apart from that he was sold, in my opinion we should start Marveux instead of Obertan because without Simpson overlapping he looked lost! Anyway just my opinion <oK>.

 

He also helped Blackburn score.

 

this.

 

Krul - 6 - Deserves the average even if he didn' have much to do
Simpson - 6.5 - Was good going forward, but didn't do much during the few times he was tested. Allowed Olsson to cross for the goal and slide in when he hit the crossbar
Colo - 8 Solid defensively and played good long balls
Saylor - 8 - Solid tackling and even won the header that lead to Ba's second
Raylor - 6 - Gave away the ball for Blackburns goal, and never really looked lively
Guti - 7 - Worked in the shadows and created some good goal scoring chances with his passing
Tiote - 8 - Solid as ever great assists and passing and no yellow card!
Cabaye - 7 - Quiet match by his standards
Obertan - 8.5 - Was good going forward and his pace was making their defence suffer from start to finish. His decision making was quite good compared to his last matches and glad to see that he is progressing.
Ba - 8 - Nice hattrick. Finally showing the form he had at West Ham last season.
Found him a bit selfish when he decided to for for goal rather than passing to Best or Obertan .
Best - 7 - Unlucky to not get on the scoresheet. Nice assist for Ba's first and created the confusion that lead to the 3rd.

HBA - Can't really give him a rating cos he didn't have much to do but as soon as he came on we were passing better and moving the ball with more purpose.

Marveaux - Didn't see much of him so no rating, but think that he deserves more than a 10 mins cameo.

 

HBA never got out of first gear, you could tell what he wanted to do, but had obviously been told to slow the game down and just keep the ball. So excited to see him this season fully fit.