Newcastle United's Italian midfielder #08 Sandro Tonali reacts to their defeat on the pitch after the English Premier League football match between West Ham United and Newcastle United at the London Stadium, in London on November 2, 2025. West Ham won the game 3-1.placeholder image
Newcastle United's Italian midfielder #08 Sandro Tonali reacts to their defeat on the pitch after the English Premier League football match between West Ham United and Newcastle United at the London Stadium, in London on November 2, 2025. West Ham won the game 3-1. | AFP via Getty Images
Newcastle United were beaten 3-1 by West Ham United at the London Stadium in the Premier League.
Lazy, leggy, lethargic. Terrible, awful. Sloppy - too many errors. Those are just some of the words Newcastle United legend Alan Shearer has thrown at the players in the aftermath of their shock 3-1 Premier League defeat at West Ham.
Despite taking the lead at the London Stadium through Jacob Murphy, the Hammers roared back to cruise to what ended up to be a more than comfortable home victory over the frustratingly inconsistent Magpies, who find themselves closer to the relegation battle after 10 Premier League games than they do the Champions League spots.
And it’s fair to say club legend Alan Shearer was not mincing his words when assessing the loss in the capital.
Alan Shearer takes to social media to blast Newcastle United performance
Taking to social media, he said: “That was awful. No better 2nd half. Not one positive. Lazy. Leggy. Lethargic. Well done West Ham.”
That comment followed on from a tweet in the first half, which stated: “What terrible first half from Newcastle. Sloppy and leggy. Too many errors.”
‘As bad as I’ve seen under Eddie Howe’
Shearer was also quizzed by the Premier League website after the game - and this is what he said: “It was as bad as I’ve seen under Eddie [Howe] for a long time. Some players need to look at themselves, they need to think they can’t always have the St. James’s Park energy. They have to put their effort and determination into away performances when they’re not being roared on. That was an unacceptable performance, well done to West Ham. They were the better team.”
West Ham 3 Newcastle United 1 - report
West Ham started the day 19th in the table and the Magpies threatened to pile the misery on the home side when Jacob Murphy opened the scoring in the fourth minute.
But that was as good as it got from a Newcastle perspective. Lucas Paqueta’s strike and own goal from Sven Botman put the Hammers 2-1 up at half-time before seeing the second-half out comfortably.
Howe made six changes from the 2-0 win over Tottenham Hotspur in the Carabao Cup, with Emil Krafth, Malick Thiaw, Dan Burn, Sandro Tonali and Nick Woltemade retaining their places.
Krafth stayed at right-back with Kieran Trippier missing through illness. Nick Pope, Sven Botman, Bruno Guimaraes, Joelinton, Jacob Murphy and Anthony Gordon were recalled to the starting line-up.
There were just four minutes on the clock when Murphy fired the Magpies in front. Jarrod Bowen rattled the post for the Hammers and the visitors immediately countered, with Guimaraes finding Murphy for his second Premier League goal in as many games.
Shortly after, West Ham were awarded a penalty when Bowen went down under a challenge from Malick Thiaw. But replays showed Thiaw got a touch on the ball, which saw referee Robert Jones overturn his decision after reviewing the incident at the VAR pitchside monitor.
The Hammers were the better side from then on and deservedly level in the 35th when Lucas Paqueta was given room to shoot, with his sneaking past Nick Pope’s far post.
The turnaround was then complete on the brink of half-time when Aaron Wan-Bissaka’s low cross was slide into his own net by Botman. Freddie Potts was denied a third by the offside flag but Tomas Soucek wasn’t to be denied in stoppage time to make it 3-1.
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