Player Ratings: Newcastle (a)

Last updated : 25 April 2004 By Rich Godden
Marco Ambrosio- Made a couple of decent saves and no one can point the finger at him for either goal. 7

Mario Melchiot- Still far too casual for my liking, but put in a decent performance today both defensively and when joining up with the attack. 7

Marcel Desailly- Taken off after 70 minutes, with no apparent injury- oh how the mighty have fallen. At fault for both Newcastle goals when he was out muscled and generally looked uneasy.5

John Terry- Once again, JT was a rock in the centre of the defence. Great battle with Shearer and Ameobi, just a shame his partner wasn't up to the job. Hit the post with just seconds of injury time to go, had it gone in there couldn't have been a more fitting scorer. 9

Wayne Bridge- Out of sorts performance. Dominated defensively and when he did get forward his final ball was usually poor. Living off the hype of his Arsenal goal and needs to pull his socks up. 6

Geremi- Passes well, moves well but you always feel that he should do a bit more. Every time I see Geremi play, I always feel disappointed and today was no different. Put in the odd decent cross, but other than did little else. 6

Claude Makelele- Played very well in the first half, but seemed to go missing a bit in the second. A lot of that may have been down to the direct nature of Newcastle's play though. 7

Frank Lampard- Immense in the first half, nowhere to be seen in the second. Great ball through to Joey for the opener and he controlled the play magnificently in the first. Game just seemed to pass him by in the second half... 7

Joe Cole- Best performance in a Chelsea shirt. Used possesion so well, his movement was excellent and he had no difficulty taking people on. Scored a wonderful opener, his first in the Premiership for Chelsea, almost had a second later in the half and also set up great chances for Eidur and Huth in the second half. Keep it up, Joe! 9

Eidur Gudjohnsen- Amongst our strikers, he is the clearly the best at holding up the ball and linking the play. And he did just that today, doing an excellent job for the team. Very unlucky not to score shortly after Shearer's goal, only denied by a Cudicini-esque save by Given! 8

Hernan Crespo- Looked pretty decent in the first half, but I don't think he touched the ball for the first 15 minutes of the second half. Needs to do more to keep his place in the team. 6

Subs

Robert Huth- Replaced Marcel Desailly, and looked well up for it! Stamped on Shearer's testicles, enough said! 10

Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink- Replaced Crespo after 70 minutes and got himself involved in the play as often as possible. Should have equalised from Melchiot's great cross- lord knows the Jimmy of old would have put it away... 7