Eddie Howe criticises 'unrecognisable' Newcastle after loss
Eddie Howe described his Newcastle team as “unrecognisable” following their 3-1 defeat away to West Ham at the London Stadium. At halftime, with Newcastle trailing 2-1, Howe made three substitutions, replacing Nick Woltemade, Anthony Gordon, and Emil Krafth with Jacob Ramsey, Fabian Schar, and William Osula.
Despite these changes, Newcastle failed to regain control of the match and conceded a late goal in the 96th minute, marking their second away loss of the season. Newcastle has not won an away game since April.
“We scored early and you thought we could really grab hold of the game from that moment,” Howe said. “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.”
Howe added, “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.”
The loss came just four days after Newcastle's 2-0 victory over Tottenham in the EFL Cup at St James’ Park. Howe suggested fatigue may have contributed to the poor performance.
“I didn’t like the body language of the group,” he explained. “But that can manifest its outcome in many different ways – fatigue, whatever.”
Author's summary: Newcastle’s lacklustre away performance left manager Eddie Howe frustrated, citing fatigue and an unrecognisable squad dynamic as key factors behind the 3-1 defeat to West Ham.