Brentford 3 Newcastle 1 and match ratings and comments on all Newcastle United players | OneFootball

We asked Mark Jankowski to give us his match ratings and player comments after Brentford 3 Newcastle 1.

Pope 5

Nick Pope made one or two smart saves in the game, in particular an eye-catching tip over the bar in the second half from Igor Thiago.

He also flapped at a few crosses when he perhaps could have comfortably claimed the ball and was arguably too passive on his line for Brentford’s equaliser.

Ultimately, he was forced off due to a reckless challenge from Kevin Schade.

Trippier 4

Trippier was a big miss last weekend away at West Ham and I was happy to see him back in the line-up midweek.

Unfortunately, today he was far too sloppy with many of his passes and failed to beat the first man too many times when crossing the ball, in particular from corners.

Thiaw 6

The German was unlucky to see his intervention in stoppage time break kindly to the Brentford striker. For the most part, he was resolute at the back and looked comfortably our best defender on the day.

Botman 5

Dealt with the physical challenges Brentford threw at him well.

However, he was caught snoozing late in the game to allow Brentford to score their third goal.

Burn 4

A day to forget for the man from Blyth, which was a shame after his heroics midweek.

Unfortunately, once he picked up his yellow card early in the second half, he became a massive liability and Brentford were able to score two goals by specifically targeting the big man.

Eddie Howe should have had him substituted after 50 minutes.

Bruno 5

I’m not sure how affected Bruno still is by the recent illness he’s had but, he struggled to get a real grip of the game today, often being uncharacteristically rushed in possession.

When he was able to get on the ball in the final third, he looked the most likely to instigate a shooting chance for Newcastle.

However, his chances to do this were few and far between.

Tonali 6

It wasn’t Tonali’s best performance, however, he was instrumental in breaking up many of Brentford’s attacking patterns in the first half and was working very hard to try and cover Dan Burn at left-back.

He was sacrificed as Howe started to chase the game after Brentford took the lead.

Joelinton 6

Joelinton was my man of the match midweek against Bilbao and I thought he started okay today too.

Unfortunately, he was forced off with a nasty looking shin injury after being caught on a follow-through in a 50/50 challenge.

I have seen those follow throughs reviewed by VAR in the past. While I don’t think it was intentional, it certainly was reckless, but still, a red card may have been a little bit harsh.

Murphy 4

I’m starting to worry people will think I have a vendetta against Murphy, as every time I seem to do player ratings he comes up as one of the lowest rated on the pitch.

This certainly isn’t the case and I’m a big fan of Murphy’s and have been for a long time.

However, I did think he was frustratingly wasteful today.

His movement didn’t help Trippier in any great way and while he did put him one excellent ball in the second half, that no one was able to attack, he was generally wasteful with his passing.

Woltemade 5

Woltemade struggled to get into the game today, often looking isolated.

I’m not sure if that was entirely his fault and perhaps the team needs to do more to be able to support him properly.

However, he was able to demonstrate his excellent control on a few occasions and his delicious touch was instrumental in setting up Barnes for our opening goal.

Barnes 6

Harvey Barnes scored an excellent goal today, however, there’s a real problem on the pitch when we start him and Dan Burn on the left-hand side.

Barnes is easily one of our most dangerous players in the final third. However, he almost exclusively likes to come into the middle of the pitch to create for himself or for others.

This means he needs the support of a left-back overlapping to keep the team balanced and, unfortunately Dan Burn isn’t physically able to provide this.

With Burn’s red card today, we will have to see Lewis Hall step into the left-back role against Man City. Hopefully that will see Barnes become even more potent in our attack.

Subs

Ramsey 5

A lot of fans have made a big deal about Elanga looking off the pace at the start of the season.

I’m as equally disappointed at Jacob Ramsey’s early season performances.

I know he has missed some time with an unfortunate ankle injury sustained in the away game with Leeds but at the minute he looks underwhelming from a physical perspective.

He looks some way off being capable of playing in our midfield effectively until he improves in that regard.

Elanga 5

Another game with very little to show for the Swedish attacker.

However, it did take an excellent goal line challenge from Rico Henry to prevent him levelling the match at 2-2.

One of the issues we’re having with Elanga at the minute is that he often is being bought into games when teams are sat very deep, denying him the space he needs to exploit in behind defences.

Hall 6

It was Hall’s excellent run down the left-hand side and subsequent cross that nearly had us level in the game towards the end of the match.

Elanga was waiting in the 6-yard box to apply the finish after the young left back had escaped several attempts to pull him down and fizz in an excellent cross.

How he wasn’t introduced earlier in the game perplexes me, the silver lining of Dan Burn’s red card is that he will have to start now against Man City.

Willock 4

Out of all the subs we bought on, I don’t feel like Willock really contributed anything.

Maybe 4 is a little bit harsh but I’m struggling to find a reason to give him anything higher.

Ramsdale 5

It was a tough introduction to the game for Ramsdale having to immediately face a Brentford penalty.

Unfortunately, he conceded two goals which he really had little chance of preventing.

He did make one good save towards end of the game to keep the scoreline somewhat respectable.

Miley N/A

Not on long enough to give a rating.

Eddie Howe 1

I don’t normally give the manager a score when I do the player ratings, but I felt compelled to do so today, because substituting Dan Burn once he been booked was such an obvious decision to make.

I’m still utterly shocked that Howe didn’t spot this and if he did spot it, why on earth didn’t he act on it?

Eddie Howe is up alongside Kevin Keegan and Bobby Robson as the greatest managers I’ve ever seen at this club, but he needs to shoulder a large amount of responsibility for the way we are setting up away from home, also the decision-making from the bench in trying to affect the game.

Howe has plenty of credit in the bank but he really needs to start finding solutions to our disappointing form, otherwise he might find that credit running out.

Brentford 3 Newcastle 1 – Sunday 9 November 2025 2pm

Match Stats

Goals:

Newcastle United:

Barnes 27, Burn red card 73

Brentford:

Schade 56, Thiago 78 pen, 90+5

Possession was Newcastle 51% Brentford 49%

Total shots were Newcastle 5 Brentford 15

Shots on target were Newcastle 1 Brentford 7

Corners were Newcastle 2 Brentford 6

Touches in the opposition box Newcastle 16 Brentford 35

Newcastle team v Brentford:

Pope (Ramsdale 77), Trippier, Thiaw, Botman, Burn, Bruno (Miley 96), Joelinton (Ramsey 24), Tonali (Willock 77), Murphy (Elanga 77), Woltemade, Barnes (Hall 77)

Subs: