Newcastle United must have already been dreaming of a comprehensive win against struggling away West Ham United when Jacob Murphy slotted home a powerful shot after just four minutes.
Unfortunately for the Magpies, however, their grip on a Premier League win will be very weak as Eddie Howe’s side had to endure a demoralizing 3-1 defeat as the Hammers’ comeback full of inspiration and passion gave Nuno Espirito Santo his first win in the dugout.
Lucas Paqueta brought the hosts back on level terms with a superb first-half goal, and Newcastle’s misfortune with Sven Botman’s disastrous own goal, combined with West Ham’s tenacity with Tomas Soucek’s last-minute goal, gave the hosts a much-needed victory.
Many of Howe’s trusted first-team faces have left the manager largely disappointed, with Toon currently sitting in a comfortable 13th place, while Paqueta has arguably returned to his best form.
Newcastle’s notable underperformance vs West Ham
Few Newcastle players could have trudged away at the end of a 3-1 defeat excited by their individual performance.
Malik Thiau undoubtedly put in a commendable shift, but was largely let down by the likes of the aforementioned Botman and Emil Craft, who was next to him at the end, and according to Sofascore, his replacement number 17 was also hooked off at the half-time mark after a disastrous first 45 minutes with zero duels.
Dan Byrne also looked dangerous throughout as a stopgap player on the left, but somehow managed to survive the entire 90 minutes. Meanwhile, Nick Woltemade also fell victim to Howe’s wrath at half-time, with the German striker managing to make just 14 touches before being replaced by William Osla.
Osla were in poor form in the second half, which Thun great Alan Shearer described as “not a single positive”, with Nick Pope looking rather shaky as he was unable to escape Paqueta’s brutal blow, and there was no hiding the glory when Soucek’s hard-fought strike somehow ended up on goal.
However, there was still no mention of one of Newcastle’s biggest underachievers, and the midfielders in question were outclassed by Paqueta throughout, with the exception of the Brazilian who scored West Ham’s memorable opener.
4/10 Newcastle star lost to Paqueta
Paqueta was no doubt in desperate need of a sublime performance against Newcastle to silence his critics and show the London Stadium crowd why he continues to be picked every week.
Indeed, the fiery No. 10 fought hard throughout the 3-1 win to ensure Nuno won his seventh duel and secured his first victory as Hammers manager. On top of that, his sensational shot was already his third goal in the Premier League this season, reminding everyone of his ability to change a game in an instant.
Paqueta’s performance vs. Joelinton’s performance | ||
|---|---|---|
status | Paqueta | Joelinton |
Play time (minutes) | 90 | 90 |
Number of points scored | 1 | 0 |
assist | 0 | 0 |
touch | 77 | 51 |
shot | 2 | 1 |
shot on target | 2 | 0 |
exact path | 45/52 (87%) | 32/37 (86%) |
key pass | 1 | 0 |
tackle win | 2/3 | 0/0 |
Total number of duels won | 7/11 | 3/7 |
Statistics by Sofa Score | ||
While Paqueta was energetic and helped West Ham achieve a rare home success, Joelinton continued to fail from the middle of the park, as you can see in the table above.
Journalist Luke Edwards described Newcastle’s overall performance as “lacking energy”, which was very evident in the no-shows from Paqueta’s compatriots, as the fading No. 7 won zero tackles and won only 42% of his duels.
Even West Ham’s Freddie Potts would be better than Joelinton in this regard. The home-grown Hammers prodigy made three tackles and won five duels in his first Premier League start.
Despite scoring just one goal for West Ham, it was clear that the 29-year-old had fallen far short of Paqueta’s lofty standards throughout, with Newcastle World’s Jordan Cronin ultimately giving him a poor rating of 4/10 after the match.
Howe will have to consider relinquishing long-standing loyalties with a number of established men if Newcastle bounce back with a Champions League win against Athletic Club on Wednesday night, but fellow manager Anthony Gordon could also be sacked after the aforementioned Edwards described his first-half performance in East London as “terrible”.
But Joelinton is undoubtedly most afraid of being promoted to Paqueta and taking a first-team spot, as a refreshed squad could feature against the visitors from Spain in midweek.
