The Good, The Bad, and The Average #38: NUFC player ratings vs. Brentford (h) [PL30]

After a joyous two-and-a-half weeks of celebrating, Newcastle United got back to business with a hard-fought 2-1 win over Brentford at St James' Park on Wednesday evening.

The Magpies had a wonder strike from Sandro Tonali to thank for the points, and, of course, a Gallowgate post, which kept out Ethan Pinnock's header at 1-1 when the game was very much in the balance.

The Bees were incredibly difficult opponents, not giving us any time on the ball to get into a rhythm and playing a direct style that kept Dan Burn and Fabian Schär busy from the first minute to the last.

As such, this felt like a massive three points earned. It was a tricky evening navigated superbly by Eddie Howe and his fellow legends, setting us up perfectly for a nine-game run at the Champions League places.

Here's how we scored everyone involved, with Tonali, Tino Livramento, and Kieran Trippier all catching the eye, and Bruno Guimarães having one of his poorest games of the season.

Serena Taylor / Newcastle United

The Good

Sandro Tonali has been superb in our last three games and that wondergoal, whether he meant it or not, was a fitting reward for his efforts. The ground he covers to help out the back five is remarkable and he's starting to step up more in an attacking capacity, too. We'd love to see him be a bit more careful and measured in possession, still, but he's so good in every other aspect of his play that it's not a massive issue.

The Italian was ably supported by Kieran Trippier and Tino Livramento, who each built on their wonderful displays at Wembley with more of the same. Trippier seems to have remembered how to defend and has his early NUFC mojo back, while Livramento just looks so at home in the left-back slot. He barely gave Bryan Mbuemo a sniff from open play, with the winger only getting the better of him a couple of times.

Inside of them, this was another man-mountain display from Dan Burn, while the newly re-signed Fabian Schär also had one of his better games in recent weeks. Burn has never looked so dominant in the air as he has lately, though he was caught out a couple of times as he tired in the latter stages. Schär's passing still isn't as good as it once was, but there were signs that he's remembered how to ping a ball here.

As well as that lovely bit of play in the build to the first goal, Joelinton had plenty of eye-catching moments. He competed in 18 duels, winning 13 of them, and despite clearly being inhibited by his knee, which was heavily strapped, he ran himself into the ground to help earn us three points and must be a nightmare to play against.

Jacob Murphy got yet another brilliant assist, taking his tally to 10 for the season in all competitions, and Harvey Barnes got in on the act too with a much less glamourous pass for Tonali's thunderbastard. Our wing duo have more than played their part in recent successes, with Anthony Gordon hardly missed.

Even when he's not 100% fit, Alexander Isak still finds a way to score and produce numerous other pieces of magic. Having tweaked his groin in the warm-up the Swede didn't look right all night, but deserves a lot of credit for the shift he put in and his key contribution. He's the first man ever to hit 20 goals in back-to-back seasons for Newcastle in the Premier League era.

We were impressed with Joe Willock's contribution off the bench here, too. It's not often a substitute ends up in this section without having scored or assisted, but the energy he injected into our play was crucial in the three points being secured. If he played with this intensity every week he'd be a world-beater!

Is there any end to Eddie Howe's mercurial capacity? It doesn't appear so. This was a contest against a side who had won five in a row on their travels in the league and it came off the back of an unprecedented couple of weeks for the football club. While we weren't at our best we got the victory, which is all that matters.

A word for Brentford, too, who were easily one of our toughest opponents at St James' this season. They don't play a particularly attractive style and they're incredibly physical, but boy are they hard to break down and compete with. It's no surprise they've been so effective away from home and they should feel very hard done by with the result. The Bees were easily worthy of a point, if not more.

Serena Taylor / Newcastle United

The Bad

We can't recall too many games in recent times where Bruno Guimarães' forward passing has been so poor. Yet, the captain still managed to have a big hand in both of our goals, which says everything about him. Even on nights when things aren't going his way he never stops showing for the ball and trying to make things happen. He'll be much better at Leicester, we're sure of it.

Preferred to William Osula off the bench once again, Callum Wilson made a nuisance of himself against Brentford's giant back three but barely made a dent. It just doesn't feel like he's going to score at the moment, which is in stark contrast to the rest of his time at Gallowgate.

Peter Bankes didn't have a great evening but was far from the worst we've seen this season. A '5' is about average for the refereeing we've endured in 2024/25, so in that respect he's no better or worse than his colleagues. That's about as nice a thing as we can think to write about him, mind.

Serena Taylor / Newcastle United

The Average

Nick Pope has been better since coming back into the team, but that penalty concession was a reminder of why a goalkeeper signing in the summer is so important for our prospects. He did make some amends with a late save from Kevin Schade, but he's lost all of the aura he built up during his first six months with us.

Rounding things off are late substitutes Emil Krafth and Lewis Miley. Krafth was pressed into action due to Trippier tweaking his groin and was thrust straight into the thick of it, while Miley only had a couple of minutes on the pitch to help us see out the game. We'd like to see a lot more of our number 67.

Serena Taylor / Newcastle United

The Breakdown

Only a couple of our lot were under-par today and there were more than enough strong performances to get us the victory.

The XI

Nick Pope – 6

Kieran Trippier – 9 (off 89')

Fabian Schär – 7

Dan Burn – 8

Tino Livramento – 9

Bruno Guimarães – 5

Sandro Tonali – 9 ⭐️

Joelinton – 8

Jacob Murphy – 8 (off 66')

Alexander Isak – 7 (off 66')

Harvey Barnes – 7 (off 90+8')

The Subs

Joe Willock – 7 (on 66')

Callum Wilson – 5 (on 66')

Emil Krafth – 6 (on 89')

Lewis Miley – 6 (on 90+8')

The Gaffer

Eddie Howe – 8

The Opposition

Brentford – 7

The Ref

Peter Bankes – 5

Serena Taylor / Newcastle United

The Next

Leicester City are our hosts on Monday Night Football, with the game an 8 p.m. (BST) kick-off that'll be shown live on Sky Sports.

The Foxes sit 19th, having lost their last 15 games in a row, scoring in just three of them. We'd be amazed if we don't grab another three points.

Howay the lads!