David Moyes cut a disappointed figure after seeing his West Ham United team concede a 3-1 lead in the closing stages of Saturday’s 3-4 Premier League defeat at Newcastle United.
The Hammers’ defensive frailties reared their ugly head again at St James’ Park, where a seemingly commanding position and three potential points were lost in the space of 14 second-half minutes.
Goals from Michail Antonio, Mohammed Kudus and Jarrod Bowen saw the Londoners overturn Alexander Isak’s early penalty, but the Swede’s second successful spot-kick proved a pivotal moment.
With the home supporters’ frustration turning to belief, and West Ham retreating further and further into their own territory, substitute Harvey Barnes took full advantage to score two goals of his own and send Moyes and his players back down south with nothing to show for their efforts.
Moyes admitted his own decisions had not worked on the day, while he also again lamented officiating calls that he felt should have gone his team’s way – particularly when Dan Burn challenged Kudus as the Ghanaian raced through on goal with the score at 1-1 late in the first half.
As it was, despite then going on to take a two-goal advantage, the visitors could not contain the Magpies and have now conceded 54 goals in 30 Premier League matches – fourth-highest in the division – and kept just five clean sheets.
And so, with a derby at home to Tottenham Hotspur next up on Tuesday evening, the manager knows his team need to find a higher level of resilience if they are to secure European qualification for a fourth straight season.
“I’m gutted, absolutely,” said Moyes. “We are trying to challenge for Europe, we wanted to beat one of the teams close to us, and for long periods we looked like we were [going to beat Newcastle]. We scored some good goals, but when we got 3-1 up we just weren’t showing the elements of defensive duty which you have to do. It looked too easy today, but I have to say that so many decisions went against us today. There’s disappointment, more than anything, that we didn’t win the game. Ultimately we should have come away with points from the game and we didn’t do so.”