The Good, The Bad, and The Average #36: NUFC player ratings vs. Brighton (h) [FAC5]

Why are we like this? Newcastle United exited the 2024/25 FA Cup in the meekest of manners, throwing away a 1-0 lead to deservedly lose 2-1 to Brighton & Hove Albion after extra time.

We had a bad feeling heading into St James', even after being intrigued by the starting eleven Eddie Howe picked. After 120 minutes of a gruelling spectacle, we were unceremoniously dumped out.

Anthony Gordon should hang his head in shame for the performance he put in and the straight red card he was awarded for pushing Jean Paul van Hecke in the face, which will see him miss the Carabao Cup final.

Not many in black and white shone, though, with Lewis Miley invisible, Sandro Tonali and Joelinton sloppy in possession, and Fabian Schär and Dan Burn looking like carthorses at times against the visitors' fast attackers.

There was, at least, another goal for Alexander Isak, canny performances from Kieran Trippier and Tino Livramento, and a couple of decent saves from Martin Dúbravka. After that, we're struggling too find too much good to say about our lot, though...

Serena Taylor / Newcastle United

The Good

Alexander Isak notched yet again at the Leazes End, blasting home his 22nd minute penalty after Tino Livramento had been felled in the box by Yankuba Minteh. Some of his play was breathtaking, too, but he was sadly lacking in support for much of the contest. He did miss one decent opening before the penalty and was later forced off due to fatigue. We unsurprisingly looked atrocious again when he was substituted.

This was more like it from Kieran Trippier, though the veteran right-back was also brought off due to an injury issue. He made a game-leading 8 tackles in a sharp display, while winning 11/15 duels up against the dangerous Karou Mitoma. The less said about his set pieces, the better, however!

On the opposite flank, Tino Livramento had a very busy afternoon and did well overall. He won the penalty for Isak's opener and made the best chance of the second half with a left-footed cross for Joe Willock that the midfielder failed to convert with the goal gaping. Sadly, he had to play all of extra-time with cramp, and this ultimately led to him playing Danny Welbeck onside for the winner.

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The Bad

What an awful show this was from Anthony Gordon, who grew more and more frustrated with himself as the game wore on and ended up getting himself sent off—and suspended for the Carabao Cup final— for pushing van Hecke in the face long after the whistle had been blown for offside. Oh, he also failed to track Minteh for Brighton's equaliser, giving up completely to let our former winger go one-on-one with Dúbravka... shocking.

'Who's the wanker in the blue?' asked the home crowd and it was, of course, Anthony Taylor, who had yet another rotten game with the whistle. He followed up his pair of 3/10s for Nottingham Forest (a) and Aston Villa (h) earlier in the season with a 2/10 this time. He must be the worst referee in the top flight. The inconsistency in his decision-making was infuriating.

We hate to say it but Eddie Howe is doing a pretty poor job of not letting the Carabao Cup final play on the players' minds. We seemed to be playing at half-speed for most of the game, which meant the crowd was barely given anything to get its teeth into. If we're playing this way to avoid injuries and unavailability, then it's not working, either. It'll all be forgotten if we win at Wembley, but if we don't then we'll be right in the mire.

He's been really good in his brief minutes this season, but Lewis Miley was Sean Longstaff levels of invisible here. In his 60+ minutes on the pitch he touched the ball just 26 times, only completed 17/22 passes, and didn't win a single duel. He did at least make a clearance and block a shot...

Bruno Guimarães and Joe Willock were called upon in the 56th minute but neither did enough to turn the tie in our favour. Bruno repeated his trick of failing to track his man for Brighton's winner, leaving Danny Welbeck free to lob Dúbravka in a one-on-one, while Willock missed the best chance of the second half when somehow failing to properly connect with Tino Livramento's inviting left-footed cross.

Two of the other five substitutes weren't any better, unfortunately, with Callum Wilson and Matt Targett struggling for different reasons. The drop off from Isak to Wilson is obscene, with our number nine simply unable to run in behind any more. Targett's crossing was abysmal, with almost every attempt being blocked.

Serena Taylor / Newcastle United

The Average

The restored Martin Dúbravka made a superb save late in the first half of extra time to keep it 1-1 but stood no chance with Brighton's equaliser due to the deflection Minteh's effort took off Kieran Trippier. He possibly could have done more to deny Welbeck one-on-one for the winner, but the Slovakian was hardly the reason we lost.

Fabian Schär and Dan Burn were so up and down today that we've had to settle on sixes for the pair of them. They each veered from the impressively competent to the downright laughable throughout the 90 minutes, with Schär's passing honking and his lack of pace brutally exposed by Minteh for the equaliser. Burn was the marginally better of the two, but was found wanting defensively in a few crucial moments.

Ahead of them, pretty much the same was true of Sandro Tonali and Joelinton. Their off the ball endeavour was commendable but they were infuriatingly poor in possession. Tonali is too loose too often for someone playing the role that he does, while Joelinton played one suicidal pass early on that should've been punished. We still looked a fair bit worse after the big Brazilian was brought off in the 56th minute, though.

Harvey Barnes showed some nice touches and played with purpose, but held onto the ball too long more than once (most notably for the Isak disallowed goal), while Jacob Murphy did everything he could to drive us forward but often lacked quality when it came to the crunch. Neither are good enough for where we want to be, if we're being honest, and if they're our starting wingers at Wembley in two weeks we're in trouble.

1,100 away fans for a game of this size? Get in the bin Brighton & Hove Albion. You've got a canny football team and some excellent players, but you aren't half a tinpot club.

PA via Getty Images

The Breakdown

A bunch of meh scores for a pretty meh performance...

The XI

Martin Dúbravka – 6

Kieran Trippier – 7 (off 69')

Fabian Schär – 6

Dan Burn – 6

Tino Livramento – 7

Lewis Miley – 5 (off 56')

Sandro Tonali – 6

Joelinton – 6 (off 56')

Harvey Barnes – 6 (off 56')

Alexander Isak – 7 ⭐️ (off 86')

Anthony Gordon – 1

The Subs

Bruno Guimarães – 5 (on 56')

Joe Willock – 5 (on 56')

Jacob Murphy – 6 (on 56')

Matt Targett – 5 (on 69')

Callum Wilson – 5 (on 86')

The Gaffer

Eddie Howe – 4

The Opposition

Brighton & Hove Albion – 6

The Ref

Anthony Taylor – 2

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The Next

It's eight days until our next match, with a Monday night trip to West Ham United's London Stadium on the cards. It's an 8 p.m. (GMT) kick-off on the 10th that will be broadcast live on Sky.

With the Carabao Cup Final six days later, we'd be genuinely amazed if we turned up and got a valuable three points against Graham Potter's men. We're back to saying this more in hope than expectation...

Howay the lads!