**Eddie Howe was not happy with how his Newcastle United side was playing during the first half of the game against West Ham United on Sunday afternoon.**
In fact, it was so bad that the Toon gaffer made three substitutions during the break, bringing off Anthony Gordon, Emil Krafth and Nick Woltemade and replacing them with Jacob Ramsey, Fabian Schar and Will Osula.
As Howe said after the game, he could have taken anybody off, such was the state of play at the time.
Howe's substitutions had little effect, and while the gaffer saw an improvement in the second half, all we saw was a side having more of the ball and not knowing what to do with it.
Anthony Gordon was hooked at half time on Sunday
Eddie Howe says Anthony Gordon suffered a knock on Sunday
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We had assumed that all three half time substitutions were tactical, a case of getting rid of the players who had offered the least, but Howe added a bit of context to the Anthony Gordon decision, telling [The Chronicle](https://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/newcastle-united-hit-new-anthony-32801234) that the England winger has a slight injury.
> "Anthony was feeling his hip slightly. There were some tactical changes there as well to try and get a different feeling on the pitch."
Howe could have said he'd taken him off because he was hot garbage, and we wouldn't have batted an eye.
Anthony Gordon will be itching to play in the Champions League on Wednesday
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This now raises a concern over whether Gordon will be fit to play on Wednesday night against Athletic Bilbao in the Champions League.
Champions League Gordon is a phenomenal player, and we could do with him in the side on Wednesday night, then drop him against Brentford on Sunday.
Having said that, we're not opposed to having Harvey Barnes on the pitch; he's not exactly shying away from the challenge.