Chelsea player ratings: Mateo Kovacic clear on top, Alonso hits the extremes

Jorginho, Midfielder: 7

Jorginho had a strong game as long as he was within 20 yards of Newcastle’s goal. He made several very keen passes to set up the final few passes leading to a chance: up the xG chain, but still not in position for an assist. A narrow angle diagonal out to Callum Hudson-Odoi on the left and a slick vertical throughball to Azpilicueta stand out.

As the play moved towards and over midfield, though, he looked more like himself. When he tried to send a player in behind via a long ball, either he undercooked it and Newcastle easily intercepted it or he sent it towards or into the stands.

The closest thing Newcastle ever did to pressing Chelsea was sending their midfielders and forwards to box Jorginho in when he had the ball in the middle third. They knew he had two touches to release the ball before he was far outside his comfort zone, so if they could station four players around him they knew he would either spill the ball to one of the four without any need for a defensive action on their part; or he would turn around and pass to a centreback or the goalkeeper. Further back, Allan Saint-Maximin only had to stay within 5-8 yards of Jorginho to close him out of the play. Standard.

Ross Barkley, midfielder: 7

Ross Barkley twisted his ankle within the first few minutes, and limped long enough afterwards that it was almost surprising he made it to the 43′. In that time, Barkley played better than he had in previous Chelsea appearances but not as well as against Bulgaria, which pretty well reflects how Newcastle stacks up to those opponents.

Mateo Kovacic, midfielder: 8.5

Mateo Kovacic put in a complete performance in just over one half of football. He made three tackles, most in full-out recovery mode (check out his 49′ tackle against Allan Saint-Maximin), and broke up several other plays by anticipating and running across the pitch to overload Newcastle’s ball-carriers and swipe away loose balls. In transition he Chelsea’s most direct option up the middle and, along with Willian, did more to move Chelsea towards a counter-attack in the brief periods Newcastle were re-forming than any other Blue.

Late in the game, Tammy Abraham and Christian Pulisic had the chance to put Chelsea up 2-0, but for a sliding block on Abraham’s tap-in by DeAndre Yedlin. The build-up to that play was peak Kovacic, not least in recognizing that Abraham was offsides as he called for an early throughball, instead maintaining possession so he could feed Pulisic to square to Abraham.

Mason Mount, Midfielder: 6

Mount had a pretty quiet game, doing much of what he usually does but not able to create space where Newcastle permitted none between their lines. No real concern and not a big deal, but it should be a note to Frank Lampard as he sets up his team against future well-drilled deep-defending units like Steve Bruce’s.