Newcastle lost to bottom West Ham on Sunday, recording just their second win in the Premier League, but Alan Shearer was heavily critical of their performance.
Alan Shearer didn’t mince words as he slammed Newcastle’s “terrible” performance in their defeat to West Ham. As a result, Newcastle have lost 4 out of 10 matches and are now at the bottom of the table.
The Hammers had been in a slump for much of the season, but defeated the Magpies to pick up their second win of the season. Jacob Murphy put Eddie Howe’s side ahead within five minutes in the capital, but it was the best result for the visitors.
Newcastle were still without an away win and found themselves trailing at half-time. Lucas Paqueta, who was again sent off, equalized the score, and Sven Botman scored a comical own goal in first-half stoppage time.
The Magpies were unable to find a response and Tomas Soucek scored in the seventh minute of stoppage time to ensure it was an unforgettable trip to the North East. And Shearer played a key role in the intervals and was equally brutal at full-time.
At half-time the former striker said on social media: “What a terrible first half for Newcastle. Sloppy and leggy. Too many mistakes.” After the game, he said: “It was terrible. There was no improvement in the second half. There were no positives. They were lazy, short-legged and lethargic. West Ham did a good job.”
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Newcastle are yet to win back-to-back Premier League games this season and the upset in east London means they sit 13th and aim for European status, having already won two of the past three seasons.
Howe made few excuses for his team’s lackluster performance, with all eyes on Champions League action. He said: “I can’t defend the performance. It was really disappointing after that start. I thought we could control the game but we couldn’t. We conceded West Ham with some uncharacteristic mistakes.”
“Overall, we had a day off today and you can see that. We gave ourselves problems. We missed out on a big chance to win back-to-back titles, so we’re very disappointed and frustrated with ourselves. The team atmosphere was wrong. We weren’t physical today.”
“We have to go away and reflect. This is in the category where we underperformed. This was a poor performance, but that happens. It leaves us with a gap to fill and we can only do it with consistency, which we haven’t been able to find this season.”
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