Newcastle United couldn’t have chosen a better team to play than **West Ham** as a warm-up for their League Cup final against Liverpool.
Despite brief flurries of activity at the beginning of each half, Eddie Howe’s Magpies won the game at a canter without ever really having to break stride.
West Ham manager Graham Potter had the luxury of over a week on the training pitch with his players, and the defence certainly looked well-drilled for most of the game. Unfortunately, there seemed to be little difference in terms of attacking play from the midfield, who had just about got the job done against Leicester City.
Unfortunately for the Hammers, Newcastle United at half-throttle are far more dangerous than our last opponents, and the truth is they cruised to an easy victory.
Realistically, West Ham only started the game with two attacking players in [Mohammed Kudus](https://www.claretandhugh.info/mohammed-kudus-bio/) and Jarrod Bowen. By the end of the game, Potter had begun to introduce more creativity to the midfield and deployed a couple of strikers, but by that time, it was too little, too late.
Ultimately, the Hammers’ lack of ambition in the starting line-up resulted in zero points—which is pretty much exactly what we deserved.