Wolves 0 Newcastle 0 match ratings and comments on all Newcastle United players

We asked ‘Matt Busby said to Joe Harvey’ to give us his match ratings and player comments after Wolves 0 Newcastle 0.

Two points dropped rather than a point gained is the key takeaway from our trip to basement club, Wolves.

On a weekend when Liverpool and Brentford dropped points, the Wolves were there to be slayed, but some poor finishing and a leggy performance means we left Molineux with only a share of the spoils and a lost opportunity to climb back up to fifth.

Nick Pope 8

Stopped a couple of shots that were hit straight at him, otherwise a quiet afternoon for our man between the sticks who came under so little pressure from a very insipid Wolves front line, that even his footwork couldn’t be questioned today.

Kieran Trippier 7

Steady away, had to cope with a nasty gash above his eye from the clumsy Mane, and was lucky it wasn’t so much worse.

Went close with a free-kick near the end.

Malik Thiaw 8

Tidied up at the back and we never looked under any pressure thanks to the German’s composure.

Sven Botman 8

An assured performance from the big Dutchman, unlucky to see his effort clip the post towards the end of the first half and the booking he received in the 89th minute was definitely one of those taken ‘for the team’ yellow cards.

Lewis Hall 7 

A Jekyll and Hyde performance, his distribution was at times lacking and I was surprised that he lost a couple of 50:50 challenges.

He did well moving the ball forward though and gave plenty of support to first Gordon and then Barnes on our left flank.

Sandro Tonali 6

The Italian didn’t impose himself and looked leggy, struggling to chase back when either caught in possession or guilty of giving the ball away.

When he was substituted after 67 minutes it wasn’t a surprise.

Bruno Guimaraes 7

Looked more energetic after the substitutions and registered our first effort on target.

Went close right at the death, this coming shortly after serving up a great ball for Joelinton who should have done better.

Joelinton 6

Poor in front of goal and whilst combative in the middle of the park as usual, I think his profligacy has cost us today.

Harvey Barnes 7

Whipped plenty of decent balls into the opponents box, including the one early doors when Woltemade couldn’t connect, but time and again was guilty of not taking his man on until he switched flanks.

Nick Woltemade 5

Similar to Joelinton, had a couple of half chances that you’d expect a big striker like him to do more with, but unlike big Joe he struggled to get involved and faded badly.

Anthony Gordon 7

Like Barnes, some decent crosses, unlike Barnes showed more desire to get past his man.

Substitutes

Lewis Miley 6

Seemed to struggle when he came on and wasn’t an improvement on the man he replaced, who by his own exacting standards was poor.

Anthony Elanga 6

For once, our Swedish wide man wasn’t dreadful and looked quite lively after coming on.

His confidence must be rock bottom so these cameos where he doesn’t look bad are vitally important.

Yoane Wissa 5

I saw nothing from the former Brentford striker to enthuse me in a game that was there for the taking when he arrived on the scene. Disappointing.

Wolves 0 Newcastle 0 – Sunday 18 January 2026 2pm

Match Stats

Goals:

Newcastle United:

Wolves:

Possession was Newcastle 66% Wolves 34%

Total shots were Newcastle 12 Wolves 6

Shots on target were Newcastle 2 Wolves 2

Corners were Newcastle 7 Wolves 4

Touches in the opposition box Newcastle 24 Wolves 14

Newcastle team v Wolves:

Pope, Tripper, Thiaw, Botman, Hall, Tonali (Miley 67), Joelinton, Bruno, Barnes, Gordon (Elanga 67), Woltemade (Wissa 67)

Unused subs:

Ramsdale, Willock, Alex Murphy, Neave, Ramsey, Shahar