West Ham United 2-0 Newcastle United
- Published
West Ham moved up to fifth in the Premier League as two Dimitri Payet goals sent Newcastle bottom.
Payet gave the hosts an early lead when he curled the ball past Tim Krul from the edge of the area after Mark Noble's low cross from the left wing.
The Frenchman grabbed his second with a rebound after Victor Moses had hit the crossbar following a fine run.
Newcastle struggled in attack and have scored only two goals this season, the lowest tally in the league.
The defeat leaves Steve McClaren without a league win since taking over at St James' Park in the summer.
Late arriving and slow starting
Newcastle have now won only three of 24 Premier League matches in 2015 and it was a routine win for West Ham, who picked up their first home league victory of the season.
Sloppy in possession and unimaginative in attack, the visitors offered little to please the fans who made the long journey from the north east.
Traffic chaos in east London meant the Newcastle players had to walk the last mile to the stadium - and within eight minutes they were behind.
It was a fine finish from Payet, but he was allowed too much time and space on the edge of the penalty area to shoot at goal unchallenged.
Moses's pace causes Newcastle problems
Victor Moses made his Hammers debut after joining on loan from Chelsea on transfer deadline day and his pace and direct running was a constant threat to the Newcastle defence.
Playing high up on the left wing, Moses was the outlet as the Hammers were able to soak up Newcastle's 61% possession before counter attacking in style.
This was evident for the second goal when, from a Newcastle free-kick near the West Ham penalty area, the ball ended up in their net less than 30 seconds later.
Moses used his strength and pace to run from inside his own half before his shot from 18 yards hit the underside of the crossbar, with Payet in the right place to finish the rebound. Winger Moses was substituted in the 88th minute as striker Andy Carroll made his first appearance since February following knee surgery.
Where will Newcastle's goals come from?
Newcastle have not scored since the opening day of the season - a run that stretches for 402 minutes - and they never looked likely to end that drought at Upton Park.
Without the suspended Aleksandar Mitrovic, serving a three-game ban after his early sending off against Arsenal, Papiss Cisse played up front but struggled to make an impact.
Right-back Daryl Janmaat carried the Magpies' greatest threat - an indictment on the attacking performance of a team who had gone more than 200 minutes without a shot on target before this game.
Substitutes Siem de Jong, Ayoze Perez and Rolando Aarons gave Newcastle more of a threat, but McClaren must find a solution to his side's scoring problems - and fast - if the positivity surrounding his appointment is to remain.
Man of the match - Victor Moses (West Ham)
Manager reaction
West Ham boss Slaven Bilic: "We fully deserved the three points, we were better from the start and we scored at the right time.
"Newcastle put us under a bit of pressure as we were defending too deep. In the second half I was proud, because we were solid, good at keeping the ball and great at counter attacks.
"It is small proof we really did well in the transfer window. Payet is a player I wanted from the start.
"I have known him for a long time. He is one of those players who is not only a great player but he makes players around him better."
Newcastle manager Steve McClaren told BBC Sport: "Our platform has been being hard to beat and disciplined, but this was a wake-up call.
"I am not blaming the coach journey, you have to deal with that and we didn't deal with it very well.
"You need these games, they hurt like mad, but you need them to get the message across.
"This is a journey and it is two steps forward one step back, this was two or three steps back. Saturday is very important for us. Our final ball was poor."
BBC Radio 5 live pundit Steve Claridge
"You can see why Newcastle have not scored since the first game of the season. I don't think the Newcastle players get what Steve McClaren is trying to do at the moment - their system was totally unbalanced.
"There was no width and it was all down the middle. But when Ayoze Perez came on it gave Newcastle a whole new dimension - I don't know why he wasn't on from the start."
The stats you need to know
Dimitri Payet has had a hand in 11 goals (four goals, seven assists) in his last 13 league appearances (Premier League and Ligue 1 combined).
Newcastle have now failed to score in four successive Premier League games - their worst run since April 2014.
The Magpies have just two points from their last 10 Premier League away games (won none, drew two, lost eight).
Newcastle have scored just one goal in their last nine Premier League away games.
Newcastle have lost their last seven Premier League games played on a Monday, failing to score in the last four in a row.
What next?
McClaren will be hoping to get his first Newcastle league win next Saturday when his side entertain Watford at St James' Park.
West Ham have what looks to be a much more difficult task as they travel to Etihad Stadium to face a Manchester City side that are top with a 100% record from five games.
- Published14 September 2015
- Published8 September 2015
- Published13 September 2015
- Published20 June 2016
- Published7 June 2019