West Ham United failed to make it three Premier League wins in a row after Newcastle left the London Stadium with all three points.
Graham Potter named an unchanged team from the side that beat Leicester City last time out, but the West Ham players were far too passive during the first-half.
Newcastle won the Premier League clash 1-0 in the end, and Graham Potter said West Ham were unlucky to lose the game, after Max Kilman went to ground from an Alexander Isak push.
The London Stadium was like a morgue during the game, even after Jarrod Bowen had pleaded with the fans to generate a red-hot atmosphere pre-game.
That’s on the players as much as it is the fans in my opinion. It was a really hard performance to watch and get behind at times.
Potter has so much work to do this summer.
Photo by MI News/NurPhoto via Getty Images
Photo by MI News/NurPhoto via Getty Images
The current group of players is a poorly balanced and incredibly ageing one.
There are way too many players who are quite simply not good enough at the club right now, and many of them will definitely leave in the summer.
As far as I’m concerned, Potter has to stop giving minutes to players who will not be here next season – there’s no value in doing that whatsoever.
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Graham Potter’s unacceptable Danny Ings decision
The fact that Potter stuck with the same side that beat Leicester was questionable, but understandable.
It’s always hard to change a winning team after all.
However, he took far too long to change things when it was clear that Newcastle were getting on top.
Potter could have turned the tide in the game had he made his substitutions five minutes before he eventually did.
However, it was his final substitution that really raised some eyebrows.
After 84 minutes, Danny Ings came on to replace James Ward-Prowse. That move raised eyebrows inside the London Stadium.
Why was Potter bringing on a player who has no future at the club when we had a couple of exciting young talents on the bench?
Unsurprisingly, the 32-year-old did absolutely nothing of note for the Hammers.
With relegation not a possibility this season, why isn’t Potter giving those kind of minutes to Luis Guilherme? Let’s see what the Brazilian has to offer.
Photo by Shaun Botterill/Getty Images
Photo by Shaun Botterill/Getty Images
Ings won’t be here next season, so any minutes we give him now are completely wasted.
Graham Potter playing a dangerous game with Luis Guilherme
The Hammers head coach blocked the Brazilian from leaving the Hammers on deadline day last month.
With that in mind, he now needs to start paying him regularly.
Potter can’t have it both ways. If he deemed him good enough to stay at the club, he should be giving him more minutes than he is.
To bring Danny Ings on for the final 10 minutes against Newcastle was a farcical decision from Graham Potter.
The West Ham boss has absolutely nothing to lose during the final 10 games of the season.
And he needs to start giving the Hammers fans something to be excited about, rather than wheeling out the awful Danny Ings for five-minute cameos here and there.