‘Not good enough’ - Bruno Guimaraes delivers honest Newcastle United v West Ham verdict

Bruno Guimaraes believes Newcastle United didn’t deserve maximum points against West Ham United because of their “disappointing” first-half performance.

A sluggish opening 45 minutes saw the Magpies trail at the London Stadium to Tomas Soucek’s opener but a quick-fire brace from Alexander Isak on the hour-mark flipped the game on its head.

Isak had an opportunity to claim a hat-trick when he rounded Hammers goalkeeper Alphonse Areola but he struck the post. It was a chance United were left to rue as substitute Mohammed Kudus netted an equaliser in the 89th minute.

And during his post-match interview, Guimaraes gave an honest assessment of his side’s performance.

The Brazilian said: “Disappointing but for our first-half [performance] I don’t think we deserved to take three points. Not good enough. The second half we performed very well but disappointed with the goal at the end of the game. We move on.

“The intensity was much better [in the second-half], we moved the ball quickly. The first-half everybody wanted the ball to feet rather than run in behind but in the second half we did.

“I think we could have scored for 3-1 and killed the game but one point, we move on. When we come back we must come back strong as we have a lot of games to play.

“Since we came back from the internationals we didn’t lose a game. We are in a good way. Now to enjoy international and come back in the same way.

Newcastle recorded a memorable win against Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League on Wednesday but Guimaraes refused to the busy schedule as an excuse.

“A little bit but this cannot be an excuse for us,” he added. “We have a great team. West Ham played one day after us and they were ready to play. We should perform better in the first-half. Second-half we did but the game is played for 90 minutes, not 45 minutes.”

The 25-year-old, whose new contract until 2028 was announced on Saturday, now links up with the Brazil squad for World Cup qualifiers against Venezuela and Uruguay.