Eddie Howe has admitted he ‘can’t really defend the performance’ after Newcastle lost 3-1 at West Ham.
The Magpies suffered a major setback after losing at the London Stadium on Sunday. It continues an inconsistent start to the season for Newcastle, who have failed to win consecutive games in the Premier League.
Newcastle led through Jacob Murphy’s goal inside four minutes, but were behind by half-time as Lucas Paqueta fizzed in an equaliser, before Sven Botman’s own goal handed the Hammers the lead.
Tomas Soucek sealed the win for West Ham on the break in stoppage time, as the home side won their first Premier League home game since February.
Defeat leaves Newcastle 13th in the Premier League table and five points adrift of the top four. Howe admitted to Sky Sports that there were few positives to take.
“I can’t really defend the performance, it was really disappointing after that start. I thought we could control the game but we didn’t. We let West Ham in with some uncharacteristic errors.
“Collectively, we were off today and you could see that. We gave ourselves problems. We are hugely disappointed and frustrated with ourselves because we’ve missed a huge opportunity for back-to-back wins.
“The feel of the team was wrong. We were lacking in physicality today.
“I have to go away and reflect on it. This falls into the category that we didn’t perform. This was a poor performance but they happen. It leaves us with a gap to bridge and we can only do that with consistency and we haven’t found that this season.”
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