Fulham (A) player ratings: This wasn't pretty but sometimes the result is all that matters

Newcastle United finished their three-game week with seven points from nine following a rather ugly 1-0 win over Fulham at Craven Cottage on Saturday afternoon.

Starting the game slower than a slug dragging a fridge on its back, Eddie Howe's players were second-best for most of the opening exchanges. Emil Krafth, Fabian Schär, and Lewis Hall all struggling badly with their hosts' attacking movement.

Dan Burn stood firm, thankfully, but the big man received little support from his defensive colleagues or the six players ahead of him. Jacob Murphy, Joe Willock, and Anthony Gordon were especially poor and drew the ire of their head coach on numerous occasions.

We somehow made it to half-time at 0-0 and things improved from there, with Schär, in particular, a different beast after the interval. He had what looked like a winning goal cruelly chalked off before Bruno Guimarães stepped forward to put things right for the Magpies.

There were impactful appearances from the bench by Elliot Anderson and Harvey Barnes, while Paul Dummett managed to get through around seven minutes without doing anything ridiculous and Matt Ritchie even got a little runout.

Here's how we rated the lads from Martin Dúbravka through to Alexander Isak, with the win being all that mattered in a disjointed display from Newcastle.

This was a game of two halves for most of Newcastle's players

Serena Taylor/Newcastle United

Martin Dúbravka – 6

Although he inspires little to no confidence due to his deep positioning and flappy hands from crosses, this was a solid enough afternoon for the Slovakian. He's still a very good shot-stopper and he dealt with all four of Fulham's efforts on goal with relative ease.

Emil Krafth – 5

The Swede's first-half showing was a continuation of his form since coming back into the side, unfortunately, with next to no attacking output combined with rusty defensive play. Thankfully, like the rest of our lads in blue, he improved markedly after the break.

Fabian Schär – 8 ⭐️

We're still not sure how his goal was ruled out, but that injustice aside this handsome bugger put in a serious shift in the second half despite clearly struggling with an abdominal issue. He started really poorly, however, and almost gifted Fulham a goal early doors.

Dan Burn (c) – 8

This was another no-nonsense display at centre-back from BDB, who didn't reach the heights of his partner in crime but also didn't stoop to the lows. He was probably our most consistent performer from whistle to whistle and he deserves immense credit for that alone.

Lewis Hall – 5

Hall had an extremely poor first half—along with the vast majority of the side—but grew into the game and defended with more conviction as the minutes ticked by. This was still far from a good showing overall, however, and he just couldn't match Iwobi or Traoré physically.

Sean Longstaff – 4

Longy had the opposite sort of game to most, with a strong start giving way to a typically disappointing display from the midfielder. He completed just 65% of his passes, barely made a tackle, and won just 1/8 duels. The less said about that stoppage time miss the better, too.

Bruno Guimarães – 7

Bruno finished brilliantly for the winner and made a big chance for Gordon to seal it not long after, having struggled to impact the contest until those late stages. He was a passenger for large portions but came up with the goods when required, which is the mark of a superstar.

Joe Willock – 3

Woeful before being forced off injured in the 40th minute, seemingly taking more of an earful than most from Howe midway through the first half when Dúbravka went down 'hurt'. As we posted after the last game, Willock hasn't been the same since his previous injury absence.

Jacob Murphy – 2

We nearly gave Murphy the Dummett treatment with a 1/10 for this showing, but he just about did enough to avoid that indignity. He was still absolutely rubbish, mind, make no mistake about that, to the extent that we're almost pining to see Almirón back out on the right flank.

Alexander Isak – 5

This was perhaps a game too far for our lone striker, who was uncharacteristically sloppy throughout. He never really looked like scoring and missed a good chance to seal it at the death, but he does deserve some credit for his link-up play and relentless pressing efforts.

Anthony Gordon – 5

The winger wasn't at the races today and was another of the starting eleven to get an earful from Howe midway through the first half. His finishing in particular was disappointing, with a huge chance to seal the game at 1-0 being missed. His defensive work was lacking, too.

Harvey Barnes made another significant impact from the bench

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Elliot Anderson – 6

His flick to release Barnes down the left for Bruno's winner was of the highest technical quality, but it had taken him a while to work his way into the game until then. At one stage it felt like every time he got possession he lost the ball by trying to do too much alone.

Harvey Barnes – 7

Barnes made a significant impact after coming on, continuing his good form since his most recent return from injury. It was his cross that led to the poor clearance for Bruno's winner and he drove at the Fulham defence with purpose pretty much every time he got the ball.

Paul Dummett – 6

We feared the worst when he trundled onto the pitch in the 95th minute to replace the ailing Hall, but we needn't have worried. He didn't get close enough to the ball to have a touch or make any sort of defensive contribution and didn't even give away a ridiculous penalty.

Matt Ritchie – 6

Our angry little winger celebrated his lone defensive action like he'd just scored a winner in the cup final and we can't help but love him for that. Introduced alongside Dummett for the exhausted Gordon, we've still got a lot of time for Ritchie despite his complete lack of pace.

Next up for the Magpies is Tottenham at home in the league

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Having emerged from a three-game week with seven points—which most of us would surely have taken if offered beforehand—we've thankfully got seven days until our next encounter.

Ange Postecoglu's high-flying Spurs are the visitors to Gallowgate on Saturday 13th, with the game a 12.30 p.m. BST kick-off that will once again be broadcast live on TNT Sports.

While we're certain we won't be seeing a repeat of last season's 6-1 insanity, we'll take any sort of result against this lot given the state our squad is in at the moment.

Howay the lads!