'Daft', 'Careless' - Media unleash on Newcastle flop who lost 60% of his duels vs West Ham

Newcastle United’s Emil Krafth has been criticised by journalists after giving away the free-kick that led to West Ham United’s opener in their Premier League clash. 

With just over half an hour gone in the Saturday lunchtime clash at the London Stadium, Michail Antonio cut inside from the left flank and was ‘wiped out’ by Krafth, starting at right-back in the absence of Kieran Trippier.

Krafth was shown a yellow card by referee Chris Kavanagh, his third booking of the campaign.

And from Aaron Cresswell’s resulting delivery, Craig Dawson headed West Ham in front.

The Athletic’s George Caulkin tweeted that Krafth’s foul was ‘daft’ and ‘blatant’, undoing a ‘bright start’ from the visitors.

Newcastle World’s Liam Kennedy, meanwhile, called the Swede’s challenge ‘needless’.

And BBC Sport’s Neil Johnston wrote in his live text commentary that it was a ‘careless’ moment.

Krafth really ought to have been more wary of the set-piece threat West Ham pose.

Prior to kick-off, Hammers had scored nine goals from those situations in 2021/22, a tally bettered only by Liverpool, Manchester City and Chelsea (incidentally, the league’s top three).

And more generally, it was an unconvincing performance from the right-back.

He won only two of the five duels he contested (40%) and misplaced seven of his 28 passes, leaving him with an accuracy of just 75%. That number was particularly bad in the first half, failing with five of 11 passes.

Indeed, his SofaScore rating of 6.4/10 was the lowest in Eddie Howe’s side.

In other news, Newcastle are interested in this English PL talent. 

Source