Newcastle 1-1 Manchester City player ratings: Gvardiol shines in hard-fought point | OneFootball

Manchester City’s tough run across all competitions continued as they were held to a 1-1 draw by Newcastle United in the Premier League.

St James’ Park is by no means an easy place to go, and Newcastle are now unbeaten in their past 11 home Premier League games. But Man City will be frustrated as they have now won just one of their past four games.

The Citizens took the lead in the first half through Josko Gvardiol having been under pressure from their hosts. But Newcastle equalised early in the second half thanks to a penalty from Anthony Gordon.

Gordon was playing up front for Newcastle in the absence of the injured Alexander Isak and did well.

“With Newcastle it is hard to know what to make of them. This is probably their best performance of the season – they look like they are back at it,” former Arsenal defender Martin Keown told BBC Final Score.

“To get anything against Man City is a good result – it opens it up a bit at the top of the table.”

Newcastle

He was well beaten by Gvardiol’s goal but Pope was otherwise strong in the Newcastle goal. The Englishman made five saves including four from shots made inside the box. Across Europe’s major seven leagues no player beats him for shots saved from inside the box. He also prevented 0.25 goals (based on Opta’s ‘goals prevented’ metric).

Kieran Trippier played 77 minutes for Newcastle before coming off and looked solid at right-back. The Englishman made one interception, two clearances and made one last man tackle. He also won two aerial duels.

Fabian Schar was booked early on and that could have been a problem. But the Swiss centre-back looked solid at the back. He made one interception inside his own box, completed six long passes and won 100% of his aerial duels.

Dan Burn was busier Newcastle defender when it came to clearances, with five in total, the most of any starting centre-back. He also had a retention rate of 90.63%, which is the percentage of touches that are not losing possession.

The game kind of passed Lewis Hall by. Despite playing the full 90 minutes, the 20-year-old made just one interception, one clearance and — crucially — didn’t win a tackle.

Sandro Tonali had the joint-most interceptions with two against Man City and completed 80% of his forward passes. The Italian also won possession seven times in the middle third before being allowed a short rest late on.

Bruno Guimaraes completed all of his four take-ons, more than any player for either team. The Brazilian made two interceptions that retained possession and also won two tackles, with a retention rate of 81.25%.

Joelinton had the joint-most tackles won at St James’ Park with three. He also won possession in the middle third three times. However, the Brazilian was dribbled past twice.

Jacob Murphy completed two take-ons and created two chances. But those two chances combined only brought an xA of 0.07. Murphy did also make 18 passes into the final third, the joint-most among Newcastle players.

Anthony Gordon was the makeshift centre-forward for Newcastle and scored a penalty. But he was also a penalty that Gordon won, drawing a foul from Ederson. It was his only shot on goal.

It was an interesting game for Newcastle’s attack. Harvey Barnes had one shot on target and won possession once in the attacking third, with an xA of 0.02. But he wasn’t too much of a threat.

Man City

Newcastle had an xG of 1.56, but 0.79 of that came from the penalty spot and they only hit the target four times. As a result, Ederson only prevented 0.14 goals but he did make three saves. The Brazilian did concede the penalty, though Newcastle would have scored anyway. Completed eight long-ball passes.

Kyle Walker was unfortunately the man to play Gordon onside for the Newcastle man’s penalty win. And he wasn’t as involved as his full-back partner, with one interception and one tackle.

Man City’s centre-backs weren’t too involved in the game. Ruben Dias did make three clearances and won one tackle, as well as one interception and a long pass completed. But he only won 33% of his aerial duels and 25% of his ground duels.

Manuel Akanji pushed more into midfield but won just one tackle and made one interception. Like Dias, Akanji’s duel winning was low with 20% success in the air and 33% on the ground.

Man City’s goalscorer, Josko Gvardiol took his effort well, cutting inside the defender before firing past the goalkeeper. But on top of the goal, the left-back made two interceptions, won two tackles and one aerial duel.

Rico Lewis wasn’t involved too much in the Man City midfield. He won possession in the middle third just once and had a forward passing percentage of only 12.5%. The youngster also failed to make an interception or win a tackle.

Mateo Kovacic won the joint-most tackles of either side, with three alongside Joelinton. He also had a retention rate of 91.49% and an open play passing accuracy of 92.31%. But the Croatian did lose one challenge and completed 50% of his take-ons.

Bernardo Silva went close to winning it for Man City with a late effort being saved, with a total xG of 0.28. Creatively, Silva had an xA of 0.14, with no take-ons completed or through balls.

Ilkay Gundogan was busy in the Man City midfield though he didn’t get too involved in the attack. The German made one interception and won one tackle, alongside two take-ons completed. He also won possession in the middle third twice.

Got the assist for Gvardiol’s goal with a nice pass, and ended the game with an xA of 0.33. He completed three take-ons, created one big chance and was fouled once in the final third. His off-ball battle with Sandro Tonali was an interesting one to watch.

Erling Haaland had five shots against Newcastle but hit the target twice. He didn’t really test Nick Pope enough, with a non-penalty xG of 0.36. The Norwegian only one one aerial duel too, kept very quiet by the Newcastle defence.

What is the Squawka Score?

The Squawka Score is a player performance tracker devised by the experts at Squawka which is designed to crunch the numbers across a single match and spit out a percentage rating for each player. The system is tailored by position, meaning various weightings have been applied to certain stats depending on what is expected of a player fulfilling a specific role. For example, a striker will be rewarded for events like shots on target, touches in the opposition box and big chances created, while a centre-back can boost their Squawka Score through metrics like aerial duel success, blocked shots and tackles won.