Last night was one to forget for Newcastle United, but one we must learn from as we threw away another 1-0 lead away from home in a second half collapse.
Nick Pope’s decision to come flying out of his goal earned him a 3.5/10 rating in our player ratings piece, and famous French outlet L’Equipe have released their own merit marks following a 2-1 defeat at the Stade Velodrome.
Pope came bottom of their ratings with a 3/10, while Gordon, Murphy, Burn, Schar and Livramento were all given 4s. Thiaw was somehow given a 5, level with Bruno, despite being our standout player, while the top marks (6/10) were given to Barnes, Tonali and Willock.
Eddie Howe was also given a 4.6 rating by the paper, with the top-rated Marseille players being Aubameyang, Greenwood and goalkeeper Rulli, who all got a 7/10.
Assessing the game, the notoriously stingy L’Equipe claimed our plan to sit deep in a a 5-4-1 and hit on the break ‘only lasted one half’, with them picking out Pope and Gordon for particular criticism.
They felt Gordon ‘missed valuable opportunities’ to hurt Marseille on the break and slated Pope’s ‘inexplicable’ decision to come so far from his line for the equaliser before our ‘passive’ defence was caught out for Aubameyang’s second:
L’Equipe wrote: ‘The Magpies started intensely, quickly rewarded by Barnes’ (6) goal in the 6th minute, his 4th of the season in the Champions League.’
‘But the plan, based on a deep-lying 5-4-1 formation, spearheaded by the isolated Tonali and Willock, only lasted one half, initially thanks to OM’s poor finishing.’
‘Gordon also missed valuable opportunities in transition [43rd, 45th+4]. Then Pope, alert until then, reignited the game with his inexplicable clearance for the equaliser, and his defence remained passive on the 2-1 goal…’
A fair assessment, although I’m not sure how Thiaw’s mark is only a five and level with an out of sorts Bruno, while Tino (4) probably deserves a higher mark than Gordon or Murphy, who both struggled throughout.
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