---
title: "Newcastle: Emil Krafth under fire vs West Ham"
canonical: "https://www.footballtransfertavern.com/newcastle-emil-krafth-under-fire-vs-west-ham/"
type: "post"
language: "en-GB"
author: "David Comerford"
section: "Newcastle United"
published: "2022-02-19T14:26:13Z"
modified: "2022-02-19T14:26:13Z"
---

# Newcastle: Emil Krafth under fire vs West Ham

**Newcastle United’s Emil Krafth has been criticised by journalists after giving away the free-kick that led to West Ham United’s opener in their Premier League clash.**

### The lowdown

With just over half an hour gone in the Saturday lunchtime clash at the London Stadium, Michail Antonio cut inside from the left flank and was [‘wiped out’](https://www.skysports.com/football/west-ham-united-vs-newcastle-united/live/446546) by Krafth, starting at right-back in the absence of Kieran Trippier.

Krafth was shown a yellow card by referee Chris Kavanagh, his [third booking](https://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/emil-krafth/leistungsdaten/spieler/184528) of the campaign.

And from Aaron Cresswell’s resulting delivery, Craig Dawson headed West Ham in front.

### The latest

[The Athletic’s George Caulkin](https://twitter.com/GeorgeCaulkin/status/1495021670725210118) tweeted that Krafth’s foul was ‘daft’ and ‘blatant’, undoing a ‘bright start’ from the visitors.

[Newcastle World’s Liam Kennedy](https://twitter.com/LiamJKennedy23/status/1495021982076882957), meanwhile, called the Swede’s challenge ‘needless’.

And BBC Sport’s Neil Johnston [wrote in his live text commentary](https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/live/football/59843068) that it was a ‘careless’ moment.

### The verdict

Krafth really ought to have been more wary of the set-piece threat West Ham pose.

Prior to kick-off, Hammers had [scored nine goals](https://www.whoscored.com/Regions/252/Tournaments/2/Seasons/8618/Stages/19793/TeamStatistics/England-Premier-League-2021-2022) from those situations in 2021/22, a tally bettered only by Liverpool, Manchester City and Chelsea (incidentally, the league’s top three).

And more generally, it was an unconvincing performance from the right-back.

He won [only two](https://www.sofascore.com/newcastle-united-west-ham-united/MO) of the five duels he contested (40%) and [misplaced seven](https://www.sofascore.com/newcastle-united-west-ham-united/MO) of his 28 passes, leaving him with an accuracy of just 75%. That number was particularly bad in the first half, failing with five of 11 passes.

Indeed, his [SofaScore](https://www.sofascore.com/newcastle-united-west-ham-united/MO) rating of 6.4/10 was the lowest in Eddie Howe’s side.

**[In other news, Newcastle are interested in this English PL talent.](https://twitter.com/LiamJKennedy23/status/1495021982076882957)**