HEARTS v NEWCASTLE
Newcastle United:
Elliot (Woodman 63), Aarons(Gamez 46), Clark (Dummett 46), Mbemba (Hanley 62), Lascelles (Lejeune 46), Haidara (Colback 62), Shelvey (Saivet 46), Diame (Armstrong 62), De Jong (Lazaar 75), Atsu (Perez 46), Gayle (Mitrovic 46)
Elliott 7 – Made a few great saves. Worrying not to see Darlow in the squad though.
Haidara 5 – Gave away a penalty. Luckily the penalty taker had money on a Newcastle win and blazed it over the bar. I suspect that will be his last game for the Toon.
Mbemba 7 – Looked uncomfortable at right back and was moved to CB in the second-half.
Lascelles 6 – A hesitant display but more to come from him.
Clark 8 – The usual, solid as ever, looked like he had lost weight.
Aarons 6 – Lively in the opening moments but all over the place positionally. Must improve over the next few games if he is to stick around, especially with Murphy coming in (maybe).
Shelvey 8 – Another one who has lost weight, again, the best player on the pitch by far.
Diame 5 – Not great. quiet.
Atsu 6 – Quiet. very quiet.
De Jong 7 – Good on the ball but again, needs more games under his belt to prove himself.
Gayle 9 – Two goals. brilliant.
Difficult to give a real assessment of players in the second half, it was very boring, with wholesale changes.
Perez 7 – Looked lively and fitter, got in behind a few times but his final ball left a lot to be desired.
Mitro 4 – Rubbish, must improve. If we can bring in another striker then great. £10,000,000 and this guy off the wage bill would be ideal.
Dummett 7 – Solid as ever, should start the season as LB.
Lejeune 6 – A steady introduction to English football.
Saivet 6 – Steady on the ball, we know Benitez likes his holding midfielders so I wouldn’t be shocked if he stuck around.
Armstrong 5 – Too stocky. Very poor when came on, I can’t see him getting much of a chance.
Not enough involvement to have an opinion on the following:
Gamez – N/A
Colback – N/A
Hanley – N/A
Woodman – N/A
Lazaar – N/A
Crowd: 10,001 (1,468 Newcastle)
Referee: Willie Collum