Hammers defeat has a familiar look

Hammers defeat from the jaws of victory AGAIN!

Oh Mr Moyes, what the hell was that all about?

West Ham were cruising at 3-1 with Newcastle players dropping like flies and The Toon Army silent. Lucas Paqueta had played the pantomime villain to perfection and was pulling the strings in midfield. Meanwhile the front three of Mohammed Kudus, Jarrod Bowen and Michail Antonio had all scored as The Hammers offered a serious threat. Antonio in particular was giving The Magpies ramshackle defence a probing physical examination (not in the medical sense obviously).

In many respects it’s probably fair to suggest that Eddie Howe’s Newcastle team had given up. There was a passage of play after sixty minutes when The Irons were passing the ball around for fun and the chants of ‘ole’ could be heard from the traveling fans in an otherwise silent St James Park.

Hammers grab defeat from a winning position against The Magpies: Newcastle 4 West Ham 3

Then came the twist in the tale. On 67 mins David Moyes swapped Antonio for Phillips and went defensive. Unfortunately Newcastle didn’t quite get the memo and mocked our defensive strategy by scoring thrice. Poor old Phillips was directly responsible for two of the goals as West Ham lost all solidity as well as any semblance of attacking threat.

Don’t get me wrong, VAR and a bit of con artistry played their part but that’s what happens when you invite teams to attack.

I’d like to say that we’ll learn from our lessons but it ain’t gonna happen. West Ham have done it before and we’ll do it again.