Newcastle United boss Eddie Howe speaking to Match of the Day: “It wasn’t a great day for us. The away form is something that will be talked about and discussed and is of course something that concerns us. That was us far from our normal selves and that is the first time we have not performed away from home.
“The schedule is the schedule and it is demanding but it is where we want to be. It is a period of reflection for me.
“West Ham had a week to line us up and we had a very quick turnaround but no excuse. We had to come here to try and find a way to win.”
Speaking to Sky Sports following the defeat at London Stadium, Howe said: “I can’t really defend the performance, it was really disappointing after the start we had. I thought we could control the game, but we didn’t. We let West Ham in with some uncharacteristic errors.
“Collectively we were off it and you could see that. We gave ourselves problems. We are hugely disappointed and frustrated with ourselves because we have missed a huge opportunity for back-to-back wins.
“The feel of the team was wrong, we were lacking in physicality. I have to go away and reflect on it. This falls into the category that we didn’t perform. This was a poor performance, but they happen. It leaves us with a gap to bridge and we can only do that with consistency and we haven’t found that yet this season.”
Newcastle United forward Jacob Murphy also spoke to Sky Sports about the performance: “That was a bad day at the office. We started off pretty well and we got in front. We had a lot more in us but they were playing quite well in the first half. When it went to 2-1 that gave them something to hold on to.
“Collectively we know we weren’t good enough. We were coming into this on the back of some really good form, but we do have the Champions League in midweek to put things right.
“We will just go home and reflect. I think this is a moment where we have to stay calm and not be reactive. We know we have to put things right and we have some good games to do that.”
