The Good, The Bad, and The Average #3: NUFC player ratings vs. Nottingham Forest (a) [LC2]

While the performance was far from perfect—very far, in fact—Newcastle United got into the hat for the third round draw of the League Cup after a penalties triumph over Nottingham Forest at the City Ground.

Leading after just 18 seconds thanks to Joe Willock, Eddie Howe's men started brightly again but were second-best for much of the contest after the opening 15 minutes, with 1-1 probably a fair result in the end.

In a difficult game to judge there were no real standout candidates in black and white aside from the goalscorer, while at the opposite end of the spectrum only Lewis Hall really had a stinker.

Here's how we saw it from Pope through to Isak, with ratings for Howe, Forest, match referee Sam Allison, and all four of our substitutes thrown in for good measure.

Serena Taylor / Newcastle United

The Good

Joe Willock showed us what we missed so badly for much of last season with a blistering start to the game that saw him score after just 18 seconds of action. He was sadly forced off the field with a thigh injury just 15 minutes in, however, with Howe commenting post-match that it could be another bad one for the midfielder.

Much of the pre-game noise was around the return of Sandro Tonali after his ten-month gambling suspension and, while the Italian didn't blow us away, he was easily one of our better players. Lasting an hour before coming off for Sean Longstaff, Sandro played some lovely passes and looked surprisingly sharp. He really should have made it 2-0, mind.

Miguel Almirón and Harvey Barnes were fielded out wide and were incredibly bright in the opening period, before fading from the game along with most of our front six. Almirón looked particularly eager to impress but ran out of steam, while Barnes kept plugging away until the end and must surely start again on Sunday.

Our star striker Alexander Isak was another who began the game well before struggling, with it being his powerful shot that was parried to Willock for the opener. He also played in Tonali for a big one-on-one chance soon after with a perfectly weighted pass, though he found it hard to make the ball stick up front.

Anthony Gordon, Sean Longstaff, and Tino Livramento all made positive contributions from the bench in the final half-hour, with Gordon looking more like his old self, Longstaff showing supreme composure to score the winning penalty, and Livramento playing his best 30 minutes of the season to date.

Serena Taylor / Newcastle United

The Bad

Lewis Hall had a difficult night in every aspect of his play and it would be a surprise to see him fielded against Spurs at the weekend. He was again quite sloppy in possession, found it difficult one-on-one against Forest's right winger, lacked bravery for their goal, and his set-piece delivery was disappointing throughout.

Kieran Trippier and Dan Burn weren't much better than Hall, in truth, which meant that Emil Krafth was left to firefight alone for much of the evening. Trippier looked ponderous in possession, barely impacted the game upfield, and was weak in some duels. Burn, meanwhile, found Awoniyi extremely difficult to deal with.

This wasn't Eddie Howe's finest night as head coach, either, with another strong start giving way to a languid performance lacking in control and incision. While we're unbeaten and that cannot be ignored, the first three games of 2024/25 haven't been pretty and we look miles off our best levels despite having a largely fit squad.

Finally, Joelinton followed up his woeful 2/10 showing against Bournemouth with an improvement here but dropped down into this section from 'The Average' due to our only penalty miss in the shootout. He looked good as the deepest midfielder in the early goings, in fairness to him, but wasn't great when moved to the left.

Serena Taylor / Newcastle United

The Average

Nick Pope came out on the winning side in the shootout despite not making a save, though he definitely psyched Awoniyi out a bit for the Nigerian's miss. Otherwise, there were a couple of flappy moments from our big stopper, but his kicking was pretty decent and his handling from long-range shots was tip-top.

At the back, Emil Krafth had a busy evening due to his colleagues not being at their best but wasn't found wanting on many occasions. Like Burn, he found Awoniyi's pace and power tough to cope with but often seemed to be in the right place at the right time when we looked vulnerable.

Bruno Guimarães probably wasn't expecting to be pressed into action so soon and he never really got into the contest, though he deserves a lot of credit for an excellent penalty at a critical point in the shootout.

Our hosts Nottingham Forest made 10 changes from their win over Southampton and were surprisingly decent without being brilliant despite that. Elliot Anderson had a good game for them in midfield, while Awoniyi was a real handful all night. A shoutout to their Wish version of Jack Grealish, too, who was lively and scored a cracker.

Last and very much least, match referee Sam Allison had a pretty solid night. He pulled out the yellow card when he needed to, tried to let the game flow when he could, and only made a few baffling decisions, which was in itself a massive improvement on Pawson and Coote.

Serena Taylor / Newcastle United

The Breakdown

Here are all 18 ratings from a strange night at the City Ground:

The XI

Nick Pope – 6

Kieran Trippier (c) – 5 (off 62')

Emil Krafth – 6

Dan Burn – 5

Lewis Hall – 3

Sandro Tonali – 7 (off 62')

Joelinton – 5

Joe Willock – 8 ⭐️ (off 15')

Miguel Almirón – 7 (off 62')

Alexander Isak – 7

Harvey Barnes – 7

The Subs

Bruno Guimarães – 6 (on 15')

Anthony Gordon – 8 (on 62')

Tino Livramento – 7 (on 62')

Sean Longstaff – 7 (on 62')

The Gaffer

Eddie Howe – 5

The Opposition

Nottingham Forest – 6

The Ref

Sam Allison – 6

Getty Images

The Next

Tottenham Hotspur are the visitors to Gallowgate for a 2 p.m. kick-off on Sunday afternoon, with the match being broadcast live on Sky. Let's hope we see Micky van de Ven upside down a couple more times!