Newcastle United were beaten 3-1 by West Ham United on Sunday and manager Eddie Howe was not afraid to criticise his players post-match
Gary Neville and Eddie Howe delivered scathing verdicts on Newcastle United's display after their 3-1 loss to West Ham on Sunday.
West Ham fought back to hand Nuno Espirito Santo his maiden victory as Hammers chief. Despite controlling 63% of the ball and arriving fresh from three straight triumphs across all competitions, the Magpies crashed to their fourth league defeat of the campaign.
The outcome left travelling Newcastle fans seething, with Gary Neville telling NBC Sports that the squad had betrayed their 'fantastic' boss. "They made me really angry," he said. "I think probably in the last 20 minutes of that first half, but certainly in that second half, they didn't have a shot for a long time in the game.
"I thought they really let the manager down, who is fantastic. A manager who has got a great record, but they've got a lot of work to do. The actual gap between the top and the bottom is big in some ways but if you drop your effort and you drop your actual intensity, you're going to get found out very quickly in this league.
"And they've been found out today like you wouldn't believe, Newcastle. I thought they were lethargic, leggy and I thought their attitude was really poor to that game."
Howe, characteristically protective of his squad, couldn't conceal his frustration.
Speaking after the match, he said: "I don't think it looked like a Newcastle team that we've seen in recent seasons. I think the body language, the collective spirit on the pitch, loads of little things that contribute to our performance, wasn't there.
"I don't think that was tactical and I don't think that was necessarily technical. It was a by-product of us just not being where we needed to be mentally."
The Newcastle manager made three changes at the interval and confessed he hadn't experienced such feelings about his side since arriving in 2021. He added: "I almost could have taken anyone off and I think that was a reflection of where we were in that moment of the game.
"It's very, very rare for me to feel that way. In fact, I don't think I have since I've been manager of Newcastle. The physicality, the energy was missing in our performance and the difficult thing to take from that. It was hugely frustrating for us – that was a poor performance.
"The statistics aren't encouraging regarding our away form lately, so it would be foolish for me to dismiss that outright. I think we've got a very good group of professionals who care deeply and want to do well.
"Certainly we haven't replicated our home form when we are away. We haven't got the points that we've got at home, but I think some of the performances have been very good. We just didn't turn those really good performances into wins. Today was a dip in terms of performance and that's the worst we've played.
"I don't want to look like I'm looking for excuses, I'm just trying to figure out what happened today. So it's never one thing, there's always a combination of factors. But certainly I've never accused my players of lacking effort.
"I want to see a response and I want to see an honesty because that's what we've built all our success on, is that quality with the honesty in terms of what they've delivered in this game and then an honesty to go and try and put it right if it's not to the level that they want it to be."
Newcastle will get the opportunity to bounce back on Wednesday when they welcome Athletic Bilbao in the Champions League.
The Magpies presently find themselves eighth in the group table, having secured victory in two of their opening three fixtures.