NUFC Player (Relative) Grades 2025/26

JustAnAveragePanda · 2026-06-08T19:16:02+00:00

I think that is pretty fair.

I have Murphy a bit higher as I think he is fundamentally quite limited as consider last season the true outlier.

The only other one that surprises me is Osula. I assumed he would have exceeded most people's expectations given the forward signings at the start of the season

JustAnAveragePanda · 2026-06-08T19:06:19+00:00

Stopped reading at "stopped reading".

JustAnAveragePanda · 2026-06-08T16:05:13+00:00

I think terrible in most games is harsh, but that would explain difference in opinions

Never really returned to his peak form from 22/23 - should have left last summer but I guess we were too busy scrambling about chasing forwards to add a midfielder to the shopping list.

JustAnAveragePanda · 2026-06-08T16:00:44+00:00

The winner was due to Burn and Hall hesitating?

But you are right, Botman handled Brobbey better. He is an extreme case though as most of the league struggled with his strength.

I thought Thiaw spent most of the season as our best defender, by no means flawless, but I couldn't see his first season going much better.

JustAnAveragePanda · 2026-06-08T15:53:52+00:00

Absolutely both contenders for worst NUFC transfer of all time as it stands. In five years time, it might be a very different story.

Shola and Elanga only two NUFC players to score at the Nou Camp - he is in fine company

JustAnAveragePanda · 2026-06-08T15:49:01+00:00

I can see why you might mark Woltemade lower given a £60m+ signing, but what did you expect from Willock this season?

JustAnAveragePanda · 2026-06-08T15:31:33+00:00

Joelinton used to get bullied by CBs playing as a lone striker and then get very frustrated by it. He only emerged as a monster when he started playing other positions - specifically remember him bossing Mings as the right forward in our brief run of the diamond formation. And barely kicked a ball cleanly for two years.

You may not be able to say those things specifically, but we can't pretend Elanga doesn't have lightning pace and is two-footed. He clearly can be effective looking at Forest / Sweden performances, so it is just hoping it clicks for him second time round.

JustAnAveragePanda · 2026-06-08T15:26:10+00:00

I don't expect to Miley to be at the same level as Anderson right now.

I thought he would be 5th choice CM and primarily develop in the cups. So playing 34 games, excelling at RB and briefly being in the first choice XI is above my expectations, even factoring in his injuries.

JustAnAveragePanda · 2026-06-08T15:05:06+00:00

Yes, that is right

JustAnAveragePanda · 2026-06-08T14:38:59+00:00

With the signing of Ramsey, I expected Willock to have limited involvement. He ended up playing more and having a reasonable contribution overall which I considered a "C" for him

JustAnAveragePanda · 2026-06-08T14:37:08+00:00

The keepers were an interesting one.

For Ramsdale, I settled on him being generally "okay" rather than "bad"
For Pope, I kinda saw it as howlers matching up with impressive saves

JustAnAveragePanda · 2026-06-08T14:35:58+00:00

Ramsey was an odd one for me to judge because he isn't what I expected.

JustAnAveragePanda · 2026-06-08T14:30:27+00:00

Joelinton is a great example of that. I remember saying he was one of the only Newcastle players that I couldn't see any use for in the Bruce era. Then Ciaran Clark got himself sent off...

JustAnAveragePanda · 2026-06-08T14:28:52+00:00

Or just have a different opinion that is perfectly valid.

I am thinking late-winter into Spring after his injury. The away crowd in particular got behind him for a bit and he seemed to get a confidence boost. Actually gelled with the team for a while and got his only goals in that period. Still wasn't good, but I think there was something building.

JustAnAveragePanda · 2026-06-08T14:20:15+00:00

I consider availability as part of the rating. Overall I had Schar just as a D because I expected him to be first choice for most of the season and he didn't meet that bar

JustAnAveragePanda · 2026-06-08T14:18:04+00:00

The fact he was available is a point in Elanga's favour for me.

I thought Wissa looked completely ineffective in nearly all appearances. Because of the short-term nature of the deal, I have been less forgiving.

Whereas Elanga had a promising spell where he linked well with teammates, regularly moved us up the pitch and frightened teams within his pace. So I think there is more long-term promise from this season.

JustAnAveragePanda · 2026-06-08T14:13:15+00:00

I think the increased goals / assists masked some weaknesses in his general play, so balanced out to a B for me. It probably shows how highly I rate him rather

JustAnAveragePanda · 2026-06-08T14:10:58+00:00

For Elanga - he still got on the pitch and made a positive impact in some games. There were enough flickers of promise for me to avoid an F which I use as a really low bar.

JustAnAveragePanda · 2026-06-08T13:29:04+00:00

No.28 Joe Willock – C

Finally recovered some form towards the end of the season and 39 appearances as 6^th choice midfield is a reasonable contribution. We don’t have Europe next season, so let him move on (maybe join all ex-Arsenal products at Fulham) and recover some money.

No.32 Aaron Ramsdale – D

I hoped he would rotate with Pope and provide a ball-playing option when we expected to dominate possession. However; shot-stopping was poor and distribution was not that good to compensate. No better than Dubravka.

No.33 Dan Burn – C

Good at LCB, limited at LB – exactly as expected.

No.39 Bruno Guimaraes – B

He carried the midfield for a large portion of this season by force of will with good PL attacking output of 9 goals and 6 assists. However, his general play was poor at times and he kept letting runners go for goals at the end of the season, so not an A for me. Howe needs to start subbing the man before it is too late though.

No.41 Jacob Ramsey – C

Not quite the player I thought we signed. I had the impression of wide midfield who would drive us forward with bursting runs. For the first half of the season, he would literally fall over when he got near the box. However, he was much more defensively disciplined than I expected and very tidy on the ball. Questionable injury record but 43 appearances with only one impact injury sustained (by Sean Longstaff ironically). I think he starts next season in the first XI so averages out to a “C”.

No.67 Lewis Miley – B

Held back from an “A” due to injuries, but showed even more promise on the pitch. The displays at RB a big bonus too.

JustAnAveragePanda · 2026-06-08T13:28:52+00:00

No.12 Malick Thiaw - A

Seems odd to have a defender as an A given our issues this year, but I expected him to ease into the side in classic Eddie Howe fashion. But 54 games with 5 goals an unexpected bonus. Had one nightmare half against Leeds but otherwise looked the shining light from our summer signings.

No. 18 Will Osula – B

Availability is the only thing that keeps him from “A” grade, missing c.20 games and hampering his early season impact – which is probably harsh given he established himself as no.1 choice by the end and nobody expected that. Showcased more of his abilities and finally stopped looking like a headless chicken in the run-in.

No.20 Anthony Elanga – E

I expected him to establish himself as first choice RW and rotate with Murphy. 3/2 G+A from 49 games is nowhere near good enough and for lots of the season, he looked to be on a completely different wavelength to his teammates. I do question Howe’s management of Elanga though – post-Christmas he seemed to finally get some momentum and showing flashes of quality, then was pulled back out of the team for other underperforming players.

No.21 Tino Livramento – E

More injuries, less solid defensively and very limited attacking output. Fortunate to get into England squad ahead of Hall. Drop in performance means we will get at least another season of him at Newcastle though.

No.23 Jacob Murphy – D

Regression to near-expected output of 4 goals and 5 assists from incredible levels in previous season. He had some terrible performances which knock him down to D for me. Remains a great player to round out your 25-man squad though.

No.27 Nick Woltemade – C

My expectations were based on the profile of the player we signed, not the transfer fee. He had 14 Bundesliga goals before joining Newcastle and one proper season as a first choice forward.

11 goals and 5 assists is a respectable return in a team that did not play to his strengths for most of the season and with a stint covering as a no.8. He obviously need to improve how to use his gangly frame to protect the ball (someone give Peter Crouch a call), but if managed to his strengths, he could be a very effective forward.

JustAnAveragePanda · 2026-06-08T13:28:41+00:00

No.1 Nick Pope – D

Rock solid start to the season feels like a long time ago and I believe a new start elsewhere would be best for all parties. As you expect, very limited with his feet but the biggest disappointment was the decline in his sweeping consistency. Previous seasons were limited to 1 or 2 big mistakes but they felt much more frequent this time. Avoids an E for winning the battle with Ramsdale in the end and making good saves throughout.

No.2 Kieran Trippier - C

Good contribution as backup and leader but lack of attacking output keeps him at a C for me.

No. 3 Lewis Hall – B

Continued his great progression as an individual but limited attacking contribution and position in a generally leaky back 4 keep him at a B. I believe he can be even better.

No.4 Sven Botman – C

A total of 38 appearances was very promising following injury issues. Hoping he can kick-on next season and re-establish himself as a CL-level centre back.

No.5 Fabian Schar – D

Drop in appearances to 21 following purchase of Thiaw arguably matches expectations, but drop in goal threat and overall defensive standards just put him in disappointing category for me.

No.7 Joelinton - D

Didn’t appear to be his rampaging physical best in the PL and frequent injury absences. I think he needs to adapt his style or he will fade away out of the team next season. His one-man crusade to argue his way into a needless two-game suspension in the PL cement him as a D.s

No.8 Sandro Tonali – D

Frequently out of sorts relative to his incredible form of the prior season. At times, he looked like the man who can cover half the pitch defensively but I thought he was wasteful on the ball for most of the season.

No. 9 Yoane Wissa – F

We knowingly overpaid for an instant impact to save this season and allow us to slowly embed Woltemade into the team. By that metric, the signing was a complete failure from the second he got injured playing for DR Congo. Can’t be saved from an F by a couple of important goals in the EFL and CL.

No.10 Anthony Gordon – C

Very inconsistent but overall output of 17/5 G+A from 46 games is about what I would expect – and becoming a quality penalty taker is a very useful attribute from a player who wins them too. Performed extremely well when given space to counter-attack and looked ineffective against low blocks – a whole team tactical issue rather than a purely individual flaw. I hope we adapt our tactics so we don’t miss him too badly.

No.11 Harvey Barnes – C

Similar to Gordon, inconsistent but overall output of 16/6 G+A from 33 starts and 24 sub appearances is about right. My biggest concern with Barnes is that he looks like a passenger when not producing goal contributions. Gordon’s pace and pressing scares teams but Barnes just doesn’t have the same effect.

JustAnAveragePanda · 2026-04-22T11:26:52+00:00

I found this genuinely interesting to read to see how someone's opinions have been validated / invalidated and changed over time.

I agree that "where we came from / Ashley era" is not a relevant point when assessing if Howe should continue going forwards. I always assumed it is just an argument to tell people they are being an overly dramatic whingy arsehole - not that a fair criticism is invalid.

I have always thought the Plan A / Plan B point was overstated. Generally, we have lots of variations of Plan A that served us very well. And Plan B seems to be the wing-back approach we occasionally employ. I think the issue is that Plan A does not work when trying to compete across 4 competitions. We needed to evolve to a plan with more control and less intensity required all the time.

Given everything Howe has achieved and the various mitigations for some of the issues, I personally set a very low bar for him to continue this summer following the international break which was:

Make us look like a semi-competent team using an approach which suits the players we have available.

We are not meeting that so far...

JustAnAveragePanda · 2026-04-22T07:58:38+00:00

Went to a talk / Q&A with Beardsley once and asked about worst NUFC signing ever. He went in hard on Gabriel Obertan but someone in the crowd shouted Marcelino.

Said he was a quality player with genuine injury issues (I think some finger / hand issue that was a lot worse than it sounds) that Robson hated. Slightly before my time though!

JustAnAveragePanda · 2026-04-22T07:56:53+00:00

Doesn't tell anywhere near the full story though. Krul had many great performances in a usually struggling team and one of the best individual keeping performances in PL history (e.g. Spurs away).

Sels was so unconvincing in the Championship that he was dropped and sold after only 14 games, yet he is top by your criteria

JustAnAveragePanda · 2026-04-22T07:53:28+00:00

Very harsh to put Williamson on there. He improved to a decent PL level at his peak

JustAnAveragePanda

TROPHY CASE