Eddie Howe criticises ‘unrecognisable’ Newcastle

Eddie Howe called his Newcastle side “unrecognisable” after their 3-1 away loss to West Ham at the London Stadium.

At half time with his side 2-1 down, the Newcastle boss made three changes, bringing off star players Nick Woltemade, Anthony Gordon and Emil Krafth for Jacob Ramsey, Fabian Schar and William Osula.

However, the change in system did not get Howe’s men back into the game as they went on to concede another in the 96th minute to seal their second away loss of the season. In fact, Newcastle have not won away from home since April.

“We scored early and you thought we could really grab hold of the game from that moment,” Howe said. “But we didn’t. We let it slip away.

“The longer that half went on, the more frustrated I was with our performance. We were unrecognisable, I think, in certain aspects of our game. So I made the change to try and bring some energy and a different dynamic to the team, a different feeling, 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.”

This loss to West Ham comes just four days after Newcastle beat Tottenham 2-0 at St James’ Park in the EFL Cup. Howe believes that fatigue could have been a reason for the result.

“I didn’t like the body language of the group,” he explained. “But that can manifest its outcome in many different ways – fatigue, whatever.

“I know, as I said, we rested a lot of players in midweek to try and give them fresh energy, but sometimes it can just be the routine of preparing for another game can catch up with you.

“I don’t want to sort of look like I’m looking for excuses, I’m just trying to myself figure out what happened today. It’s never just one thing.”