West Ham United played host to Newcastle United in the Premier League on Monday night.
It has been a tough Premier League campaign for West Ham so far, and it was an incredibly difficult game against Newcastle at the London Stadium.
The first-half performance from the Hammers was incredibly poor, and Graham Potter would have been extremely disappointed with the passive manner in which his players went about their business.
Jarrod Bowen urged the West Ham fans to get behind the team before the game, but that plea must have fallen on deaf ears.
The atmosphere inside the London Stadium was truly appalling, and it’s something that the club have to look at addressing as soon as possible.
Photo by Justin Setterfield/Getty Images
Photo by Justin Setterfield/Getty Images
Things improved early on in the second-half on the pitch at least, as West Ham attacked with far more gumption and incisiveness.
However, the match ended in a 1-0 defeat for the Hammers in the end.
So how did we rate the players individually?
West Ham player ratings vs Newcastle
Here’s how Hammers News rated the players’ performances against the Toon…
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Alphonse Areola 8
Made a couple of fine saves in the first-half from point blank range, and he made a truly outstanding save to stop what would have been a Max Kilman own goal in the second-half. However, the Frenchman’s distribution desperately needs to improve.
Aaron Cresswell 6
Average performance from the 35-year-old tonight. He definitely shouldn’t be a long-term solution for Potter.
Jean-Clair Todibo 7
The Frenchman actually looked very good in spells against Newcastle but it’s a worry that he only lasted just over an hour again.
Max Kilman 5
Not his finest day. He went down incredibly easily from a so-called push from Alexander Isak and given his size and stature it was truly embarrassing. Have we been had over by Wolves? Potentially.
Photo by Rob Newell - CameraSport via Getty Images
Photo by Rob Newell – CameraSport via Getty Images
Aaron Wan-Bissaka 6
One of his quieter performances, Wan-Bissaka wasn’t bad at all, and he didn’t make any glaring errors, but he just didn’t do enough going forward in my opinion.
Ollie Scarles 5
The young left-back put in an admirable shift, but I’m looking for more quality from him inside the final third. Went to sleep for the Bruno Guimaraes goal as well, when he lost his man.
Edson Alvarez 6
Very much a nothing performance from Alvarez against Newcastle. He wasn’t terrible but I wasn’t sure what his actual role was in the team. He just seems a bit lost to me right now.
James Ward-Prowse 6
The 30-year-old didn’t progress the ball anywhere near enough for my liking. He brings a lot of energy and hard work but I really feel like Potter needs to make a big upgrade on him in the summer.
Tomas Soucek 5
Hooked just after the hour mark after an anonymous display and a glaring miss inside the first minute of the game.
Mohammed Kudus 6
The Ghanaian was incredibly poor in the first-half against Newcastle. He held onto the ball for far too long on numerous occasions and looked miles off the pace. However, he did improve greatly in the second-half and that bumped his score up significantly.
Jarrod Bowen 7
The Hammers skipper worked incredibly hard to make things happen for his team but it wasn’t to be. A lot more to come from him and West Ham.
Subs:
Carlos Soler 4
An awful cameo appearance for the Spaniard. He’ll be sent back to PSG in the summer, no doubt about that.
Lucas Paqueta 6
The Brazilian never got to grips with the speed of the game when he came on, but he did at least try to make things happen.
Konstantinos Mavropanos 7
The Greece international didn’t do anything glaringly bad when he came on, and that’s a success really given his error-prone nature!
Evan Ferguson 5
Another anonymous run-out for Ferguson. I’m seriously wondering what the point was in signing him in the first place.
Danny Ings 5
The 32-year-old will be gone in the summer, so it’s no surprise that he looks completely disinterested when he comes on now.
West Ham vs Newcastle key takeaways
The Hammers cannot keep starting games so passively.
Photo by Serena Taylor/Newcastle United via Getty Images
Photo by Serena Taylor/Newcastle United via Getty Images
We have nothing to lose between now and the end of the season.
The Hammers won’t be getting relegated, so why not try and play with more dynamism and flair?
We desperately need more pace, power and athleticism in the middle of the park, but that’s something that can only be addressed in the summer.
One thing I will say is that the team seem to defend far more solidly as a unit now under Potter, and the boys don’t give up as many clear-cut chances as they did with Julen Lopetegui at the helm.
I’m convinced that the future is bright for West Ham, in spite of the extremely average performance against Newcastle.
However, Potter clearly needs to address a few things urgently.