Eddie Howe's scathing Newcastle United verdict after 3-1 defeat to West Ham United
Newcastle United suffered a 3-1 defeat away to Premier League strugglers West Ham United.
Eddie Howe has reflected on Newcastle United’s dismal 3-1 defeat to Premier League strugglers West Ham United.
The Magpies headed into the game on the back of three straight wins across all competition but eyeing back-to-back wins in the Premier League for the first time since April.
West Ham started the day 19th in the Premier League table and United threatened to pile on further misery after taking the lead in the fourth minute via Jacob Murphy.
But Howe’s side quickly regressed and deservedly found themselves 2-1 down heading into half-time after Lucas Paqueta’s strike and Sven Botman own goal.
After making eight changes to his starting XI for the 2-0 win over Tottenham Hotspur in the Carabao Cup on Wednesday, Howe made six changes for the visit to the London Stadium.
Eddie Howe scathing verdict on Newcastle United’s first-half performance v West Ham
But at half-time, Howe changed his team again, admitting he could have hooked ‘almost anyone’.
Howe made three substitutions, with Nick Woltemade, Anthony Gordon and Emil Krafth being withdrawn in place of Will Osula, Jacob Ramsey and Fabian Schar.
“Yeah, that was the frustrating thing about the first half, I almost could have taken anyone off and I think that was a reflection of where we were in that moment in the game,” Howe admitted.
“It's very, very rare for me to feel that way. In fact, I don't think I have since I've been manager at Newcastle. I felt the team needed some shaking up at half-time, that's why I did what I did.
“I was really disappointed with the first half. It started so well, we scored early and we thought we could really grab hold of the game from that moment, but we didn't and let it slip away. The longer that half went on, the more frustrated I was with our performance and we were unrecognisable in certain aspects of our game.
“I made the change to try and bring some energy and a different dynamic to the team, a different feeling and different relationships on the pitch. I thought we were better in the second half, I don't think we were particularly great though, hence why we didn't get back in the game.”
Eddie Howe: That didn’t look like a Newcastle United team
The changes at the break worked to little effect. Howe later introduced Harvey Barnes and Anthony Elanga before Tomas Soucek added a third in stoppage time.
Howe said: “I don't think it looked like, forget my name, it didn't look like a Newcastle team that we've seen in recent seasons. I think just the body language, the collective spirit on the pitch, loads of little things that contribute to our performance wasn't there.
“I don't think that was tactical, I don't think that was necessarily technical, it was a by-product of us just not being where we needed to be mentally. We did a lot of work with the players in between the last game to this, so it's a difficult one to work out right now, but we'll go away and try and learn from today because I think it's hopefully a turning point we can use for our advantage.”