Newcastle United defeated Wigan Athletic 2-1, at St. James’ Park yesterday.
After the international break, Newcastle United scored a 2-1 victory over Wigan Athletic. The win kept the Magpies at the top of the table. The 2-1 result also ended a three match winless streak. Here’s how the grades came down for each area:
After getting blanked in two of their last three outings, the Magpies were able to net two goals yesterday. Mohamed Diame found Dwight Gayle at the back post for the first, and Matt Ritchie followed up his miss off the crossbar with a smooth header.
Gayle seems to finally be back at full health, and tough to deal with in the area. Diame was not in great form recently, but he played well in the attack today. Jonjo Shelvey provided crisp movement of the ball, and almost scored a header himself. Ritchie continues to be a huge part of Newcastle’s offense.
It wasn’t a terrible effort from Jamaal Lascelles and company. Grant Hanley again got the start next to the Magpies captain at center back, with Paul Dummett and Vurnon Anita on the outside. They allowed a few too many quality chances, but Wigan’s poor finishing only limited the damage to one goal. A goal that could have been prevented by good individual defending by Lascelles, who got twisted around by a crafty move by Michael Jacobs in the box.
Karl Darlow was only beaten once, and it was a top class little flip goal from Jacobs. Other than that, he was strong in goal. He dealt with a few powerful strikes on target, and did a good job commanding the line in front of him.
Next: Newcastle opens April with a 2-1 win over Wigan
Rafa Benitez put out a good lineup top to bottom. I was wary of Diame getting another chance behind the striker, but he was great. Grant Hanley played well in the back, filling in for Ciaran Clark.
Rafa’s best work may have been his club’s inspired effort. Too many matches at home, they came out flat. Yesterday, playing a club so low on the table, it would have been easy to come out disinterested. But, they were up to the task early, and showed resilience to win after being equalized.