Lost the ball 33 times, 18 duels lost: Newcastle's three worst players vs Brentford

Newcastle United won all three points in a real relegation six-pointer at Brentford, with a 2-0 win in the Premier League on Saturday afternoon.

They were helped by an early card for Josh Dasilva, as Joelinton and Joe Willock capitalised with goals in the first half, but in truth it could have been more as the visitors had no fewer than 26 shots on goal and 63% possession.

As such, some players may have been disappointed with their own individual displays, and The Transfer Tavern have used statistical experts SofaScore to analyse who the three worst performers (to have played at least 45 minutes) were for the Magpies on the day:

With an overall rating of seven, Krafth ranks as Newcastle’s third-worst performer, despite helping his team to keep a clean sheet.

The right-back lost out on six of his duels in total and failed to record a single dribble, tackle or accurate cross, while he also lost the ball 12 times.

Admittedly joint-worst in terms of rating (6.8), Murphy ranks second here as he did not play the entire game.

The winger lost five duels and never managed a shot on target, dribble or long ball, while he was also guilty of losing possession on 13 separate occasions in the match, the fifth-most out of his team-mates.

Also given a 6.8 rating, Wood ranked as the Magpies’ joint-worst player against Brentford, coming out bottom here as he had the full 90 minutes to influence proceedings.

The New Zealand international was unsuccessful in seven of his duels, the second-most out of any Newcastle player, while he could not score with any of his four shots on goal and lost the ball eight times in total.

In other news, NUFC are now ahead in talks to sign this ‘phenomenal’ Ligue 1 star

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