The Good, The Bad, and The Average #8: NUFC player ratings vs. Wimbledon (h) [LC3]

'Instantly forgettable' is how Eddie Howe described this contest in his post-match press conference and we're struggling to sum it up better than our head coach. This certainly wasn't a game to make any of the youngsters present at a chilly St James' Park fall in love with professional football.

Credit to AFC Wimbledon for that, though, with our League 2 opposition forcing us into a lot of sideways and backwards passing that drew the ire of the home crowd at times. While we were far, far from poor, everyone of a black and white persuasion expected to see a more emphatic win here.

This was obviously a much-changed Newcastle side, with only Fabian Schär, Joelinton, and Harvey Barnes keeping their places from the 1-1 draw with Manchester City. Sadly, none of those that got a rare chance to start staked a serious claim for minutes in more demanding encounters.

Here's how we rated the 16 players on show, Howe himself, our opponents, and the referee.

Serena Taylor/Newcastle United

The Good

Fabian Schär was captain for the night—well for the first half at least—and put in a true captain's display to see us through into the next round. He connected with 17/20 long passes, making the best chance of the game for Miguel Almirón, defended soundly, and converted his penalty with supreme calmness.

Coming off the bench at half-time due to Howe's frustration with the performance up to that point, Bruno Guimarães was head and shoulders above everyone else on the pitch in his 50 minutes of action. He amassed an enormous 66 touches and looked the only one capable of breaking Wimbledon's lines with a pass.

While Will Osula looked desperately disappointed at the end of the contest, likely due to not scoring, this was a good full competitive debut for the young Dane. He was ignored more than Alexander Isak usually is, but he completed 7/7 passes, never stopped running, and showed a couple of flashes of real quality.

Tino Livramento, Joelinton, and Miguel Almirón were the other starters who offered more positive than negative. Tino undoubtedly needs to have more end product, but he never looked troubled defensively. Joelinton played as the deepest midfielder then at left wing and was everywhere, while Almirón was our brightest spark in an attacking sense and won the penalty for the goal.

Of the other substitutes, Anthony Gordon and Lewis Hall can hold their heads up high for making a noticeable impact on proceedings. As a duo, they offered considerably more than Lloyd Kelly and Harvey Barnes did in the first half, though we'd love to see Gordon trusting Hall more when the young fullback makes overlapping runs.

George Wood/Getty Images

The Bad

While we weren't too annoyed with his performance, pint-sized referee Darren Bond deserves some digging out for not seeing two stonewall penalties in quick succession on Schär and Almirón. Luckily his linesman was awake to award the second one, which led to some amusing fume from Dons boss Johnnie Jackson.

Serena Taylor/Newcastle United

The Average

Martin Dúbravka and Odysseas Vlachodimos split the game 50/50 due to the Slovakian's first-half injury and won't enjoy much quieter evenings. Neither put a foot wrong, thankfully, with Odysseas in particular catching the eye with his footwork and quick passing. Maybe we're just too used to watching Nick Pope?

At the back, Emil Krafth and Lloyd Kelly were about as steady as you'd expect them to be defensively while offering next to nothing going forward. Kelly was so negative at left-back that he was shuffled to centre-back at half-time, with Livramento swapping over to that flank from the right until Hall's introduction.

Sean Longstaff and Joe Willock effectively cemented their statuses as backup central midfielders with their display here, in a game where they should have shown a lot more in their favoured positions. Longstaff has been bang average for years, but Willock continues to flatter to deceive outside of moments of magic.

Introduced in the 90th minute, Dan Burn only had time for six touches and one defensive action as we saw out the game without breaking too much of a sweat. We're all about completeness here at NUFCFEED.

It's not often you'll hear Eddie Howe apologising to supporters for a lack of entertainment, but the head coach was forced to do so here because of how drab our showing was against relative minnows. Still, we never looked in danger, got through the tie unscathed in terms of serious injuries, and earned a clean sheet.

AFC Wimbledon came with a very clear plan and executed it pretty well, still being in with a shout of taking the game to penalties deep into added time. Special mentions go to goalkeeper Owen Goodman for his awesome long kicking ability, captain Joe Lewis for some wonderfully short shorts (and a quality display), and Omar Bugiel—or 'Skinny Callum Wilson' as some were calling him—for a battling performance up front.

Owen Humphreys/PA

The Breakdown

Here are all 19 of our ratings, with Schär at the peak and Bond in the doldrums:

The XI

Martin Dúbravka – 6 (off 46')

Tino Livramento – 7

Emil Krafth – 6 (off 62')

Fabian Schär (c) – 9 ⭐️ (off 90')

Lloyd Kelly – 6

Sean Longstaff – 6

Joelinton – 7 (off 62')

Joe Willock – 6

Miguel Almirón – 7

Will Osula – 7

Harvey Barnes – 6 (off 46')

The Subs

Odysseas Vlachodimos – 6 (on 46')

Bruno Guimarães – 8 (on 46')

Anthony Gordon – 7 (on 62')

Lewis Hall – 7 (on 62')

Dan Burn – 6 (on 90')

The Gaffer

Eddie Howe – 6

The Opposition

AFC Wimbledon – 6

The Ref

Darren Bond – 5

Carl Recine/Reuters

The Next

It's Goodison Park on Saturday evening for a 5.30 p.m. (BST) kick-off with Everton, who got their first league win of 2024/25 last week against Crystal Palace.

Buoyed by that result and their impending takeover, this will no doubt be a tricky test, but we need to pass it if we have serious Champions League aspirations.

Howay the lads!