Newcastle United's English head coach Eddie Howe looks on ahead of kick-off in the English Premier League football match between West Ham United and Newcastle United at the London Stadium, in London on November 2, 2025. (Photo by Glyn KIRK / AFP)placeholder image
Newcastle United's English head coach Eddie Howe looks on ahead of kick-off in the English Premier League football match between West Ham United and Newcastle United at the London Stadium, in London on November 2, 2025. (Photo by Glyn KIRK / AFP) | AFP via Getty Images
Newcastle United boss Eddie Howe changed his right-back four times during the 3-1 defeat to West Ham United.
West Ham started the day 19th in the Premier League table and the Magpies threatened to pile on further misery when Jacob Murphy opened the scoring in the fourth minute.
But The Hammers went into half-time leading. Lucas Paqueta beat Nick Pope from distance before a Aaron Wan-Bissaka cross was turned into his own net by Sven Botman.
Furious with what he saw in the first half, Howe made three changes at the break, taking off Emil Krafth, Anthony Gordon and Nick Woltemade and bringing on Fabian Schar, Jacob Ramsey and Will Osula.
NUFC boss Eddie Howe explains triple half-time change v West Ham
But the introduction of the trio had little impact and a late Tomas Soucek goal inflicted a fourth Premier League defeat of the season on United, who remain without a win away from home since April.
On the half-time changes, Howe said: “That was the frustrating thing about the first half, I almost could have taken anyone off and I think that was a reflection of where we were in that moment in the game.
“It's very, very rare for me to feel that way. In fact, I don't think I have since I've been manager at Newcastle. I felt the team needed some shaking up at half-time, that's why I did what I did.
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“Yeah, I was really disappointed with the first half. It started so well, we scored early and we thought we could really grab hold of the game from that moment, but we didn't and let it slip away. The longer that half went on, the more frustrated I was with our performance and we were unrecognisable in certain aspects of our game.
“I made the change to try and bring some energy and a different dynamic to the team, a different feeling and 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.”
Newcastle United field four different right-backs v West Ham
With Kieran Trippier and Tino Livramento, Krafth started at right-back in his first Premier League start in over a year.
The decision to withdraw Krafth at the break left the side without a recognised right-back. Malick Thiaw, who has been performing well at centre-back, moved out there initially before Jacob Murphy and Sandro Tonali dropped in.
Asked about the right-back rotation, Howe told NewcastleWorld: “Yes, we were looking for a solution to try and make the team perform better in that position, and we knew going into the game it wouldn't be easy because Kieran's got such brilliant strengths that when he's missing we miss them.
“He would have helped us today, but he wasn't here and we needed to find a different way. Of course, we're missing Tino as well, two big players. So, yes, that's why I did what I did.”
Newcastle are back in action on Wednesday when they take on Athletic Bilbao in the Champions League, with Howe saying he’ll “wait and see” if Trippier is back available.
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