Why Lewis Miley was left out of Newcastle United's squad v West Ham as £134m move backfires

Trailing 1-0 to Tomas Soucek’s 10th minute opener, Howe brought on Harvey Barnes at half-time in place of Joe Willock, who was struggling with a leg injury. But shortly after the restart, the Magpies fell further behind through Aaron Wan-Bissaka’s goal around the hour-mark.

Howe then turned to Sandro Tonali, Callum Wilson and Jacob Murphy in search of a route back into the game but their introductions ultimately had a adverse impact. By the time Kieran Trippier came on for Bruno Guimaraes, who had a glute issue, in the 84th minute, the game was dead and buried.

When asked if his side had become less effective after the changes, Howe replied: “Yeah definitely and it’s been unlike us because our substitutes have had a really positive impact on the group. That wasn’t the case today.

“I really didn’t like us in the last half an hour, that leaves sort of a negative feeling for me because the majority of the early exchanges and first 60 minutes were very good.

“Of course, the players that then enter the pitch to justify them playing in the next game they’ve got to do well and I felt we maybe didn’t do that.

“I’m always very honest with the players, I don’t hide my feelings even if it is immediately after the game. I think they’ll have a good idea of how I feel. There was a frustration about the last half an hour so I’m not hiding anything.”

With Wilson making his first appearance of the 2024-25 campaign and Trippier returning after seven weeks out, it was arguably the strongest bench Howe has been able to name this season, so much so that he made the difficult decision to leave Lewis Miley out of the matchday squad.

Howe spoke highly of 18-year-old Miley during his pre-match press conference but decided it’d be more beneficial to include the likes of Will Osula, Miguel Almiron and Matt Targett ahead of him.

Next up for Newcastle is a trip to second bottom Crystal Palace on Saturday afternoon.