Deader than a dodo on the Day of the Dead in East London | OneFootball

All Souls Day 2025 will not be remembered fondly by fans of Newcastle United. By the end of a deeply depressing visit to the London Stadium, it felt more akin to the Day of the Dead.

Initially, it seemed to go swimmingly. Bowen crashed a fierce shot off Pope’s far post in the opening exchanges and Newcastle responded impressively.

Bruno played in Murphy down the right wing. He swerved inside and out before striking a shot from about 20 yards. It was low and firm across Areola, giving the keeper no chance.

That was more or less the final meaningful contribution of those two players. At least they brought some brief joy to the travelling fans. Unlike their outfield, out-of-sorts teammates. Apart from a save low to his right to keep out a Gordon shot, Areola was untested.

Where was the cohesion, the drive, the willingness to take on and beat opponents who had lost all four previous home games in this season’s Premier League? How many tackles were lost, how many passes misplaced?

West Ham had not claimed maximum points at the London Stadium since February. Allowing for the summer break, that was still eight months without a victory on their own patch.

Pope made a couple of typically excellent saves to preserve the advantage but he was merely delaying an inevitable equaliser.

Bruno’s big mate Paqueta scored it, though the damage was also self-inflicted. A routine cross, swung in from West Ham’s left flank, was punched out by Pope under little pressure. Only he can explain why he didn’t try to catch it. The ball fell to Paqueta about 25 yards out and his accurate low shot beat the keeper at his near post. It looked easier to save than two earlier efforts, from my vantage point about 60 yards behind the net.

Worse was to follow and this time the goal was almost entirely down to Newcastle’s failings.

Gordon had repeatedly neglected to track back when Wan-Bissaka strode forward in support of Bowen, a failure that left Burn to cover two opponents. West Ham got behind our back line again in the fifth minute of first-half stoppage time. When Wan-Bissaka cut the ball back towards the penalty spot, Botman was running towards Pope’s net and finished emphatically.

We might have been worse than 2-1 down. The half-time score flattered us, not them.

Damned if you do, damned if you don’t. Eddie Howe could have said to the 11 starters: “You have got us into this mess. Now go out and get us out of it.” He was criticised in previous seasons for not tweaking when changes looked necessary. In this campaign, substitution after substitution has been made.

They had the desired effect last weekend at home to Fulham. Yesterday the three changes at half-time had no effect, other than to perpetuate the disjointed, lacklustre, lethargic display. We dominated possession after the break without ever looking likely to score again. A weak header by Osula that dropped into Areola’s hands was our only effort on target in the second half.

Two more substitutes took to the field for NUFC. The aggression, other than a bit of argy-bargy, was still absent. For nearly the entire afternoon, we were flatter than the Flat Earth Society’s depiction of the world.

Burn stormed forward and in the final 20 minutes was nearer to the West Ham net than to his own. That cannot be right. Neither was the reluctance of our various wide players to test their markers on the outside.

With Burn channelling his inner Harry Maguire in a desperate search for the equaliser, we were dangerously short in defence. Almost inevitably, Bowen broke away deep in second-half stoppage time. A quick one-two with Paqueta gave the England international a clear sight of goal. His shot was straight at Pope but it squeezed between the keeper’s feet and Soucek pounced to administer the coup de grace.

West Ham thus secured their first Premier League home win since February and we stretched our winless run away from home in the same competition to eight games.

Pope made more errors yesterday than in any game I can recall. None of his teammates played as well as they can and normally do. They never exerted control in midfield, rarely threatened to score and often lost possession in the defensive third.

Every cloud is said to have a silver lining. We need to find one, starting on Wednesday against Bilbao, or we will kiss goodbye to any hopes of silverware this season.

West Ham 3 Newcastle 1 – Sunday 2 November 2025 2pm

Match Stats

Goals:

Newcastle United:

Murphy 4

West Ham:

Paqueta 35, Botman OG 45+5, Soucek 90+7

Possession was Newcastle 62% West Ham 38%

Total shots were Newcastle 12 West Ham 15

Shots on target were Newcastle 4 West Ham 9

Corners were Newcastle 6 West Ham 7

Touches in the opposition box Newcastle 22 West Ham 21

Newcastle team v West Ham:

Pope, Krafth (Schar 45), Thiaw, Botman (Barnes 65), Burn, Bruno, Joelinton, Tonali, Gordon (Ramsey 46), Woltemade (Osula 46), Murphy (Elanga 77)