Newcastle United capitulated to an embarrassing 3-1 defeat against West Ham United at the London Stadium on Sunday afternoon.
Considering a West Ham preview I read suggested United should win the game with only nine men, such has been the dearth of quality shown by the Hammers so far this season, this has to go down as one of the worst performances under Eddie Howe.
Jacob Murphy opened the scoring for United before goals from Lucas Paqueta, a Sven Botman OG, and Tomas Soucek secured the win for the beleaguered home side.
Here is everything I disliked from the game in part one of two pieces I’ve written on Sunday’s horror show:
**The Joelinton problem**
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Eddie Howe cannot keep playing that midfield three away from home. It’s let down by Big Joe’s lack of technical quality, meaning we cannot retain possession or build any pressure on opponents as all they do is mark (sometimes double mark) Bruno and Sandro, let the play progress through Joelinton and he invariably picks the wrong pass or passes it sideways or backwards.
We all love Big Joe, his redemption arc at United is the stuff of miracles and our £40m man deserves plaudits for it. He will continue to be a key player when we face bigger teams at home, or in games where we need to be more physical, but he is actively hampering the team with his lack of technical quality when compared to his peers.
I’m not sure what Lewis Miley did wrong to find himself out of the side and if I was the youngster I’d be knocking on the manager’s door in the morning and asking exactly why.
**Wake up, Anthony Gordon**
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The title of this point is pretty provocative but I’m starting to get sick of Gordon not turning up in “regular” games. He was atrocious on Sunday, and was rightly hooked at half-time after running down blind alleys all half, and that now makes it 19 games in the league without a goal or an assist. It’s not acceptable for a player to just turn up in the “big” games, (and as an avid hater of international football) or just your country— it has a whiff of the Michael Owen’s about it.
We’re consistently told that Gordon is a cerebral footballer who reads up on the psychology of sporting greats, but for a lad who has set his stall so high for United, he is struggling hugely in the Premier League, and if it continues, he will not be on a plane going to the World Cup this summer.
However, Gordon isn’t alone in being a player who only seems to get up for the “big” games at the minute; the same can be said of Botman, Joelinton, Murphy, and Bruno, who were all passengers at various points throughout the game, and Barnes and Elanga offered nothing when they came on too.
**Pope disaster-class**
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It’s safe to say that the regular number one didn’t cover himself in glory on Sunday. Pope was weak for Paqueta’s long-range equaliser, letting it squirm under his hands, and he should’ve caught the initial cross to which he elected to punch.
The own goal is unlucky, but better positioning from the keeper may’ve saved us, in what was a crucial period in the game; and for the third, the ball squeezes between his legs, but Pope turns like the QE2 trying to get out of the harbour to seal our fate.
This’ll probably seem harsh considering Pope already has six clean sheets, but it’s so obvious that the management have wanted to evolve past him for the last two seasons with the failed pursuit of James Trafford, that continuing to play Pope just feels like cutting off your nose to spite your face.
All this in a week where his direct rival, Ramsdale, has a pretty storming game doing the sweeping Pope is normally praised for, and is a very obvious upgrade with the ball at his feet.
Part two coming soon.