Eddie Howe believes Newcastle United will ‘rue’ one key mistake in West Ham defeat

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There is a frustrating trend with Newcastle United whenever they start a match as favourites.

Newcastle United had a huge opportunity to close the gap to the top four and fuel hopes of European qualification but they slipped up with a 2-0 defeat to West Ham.

The match followed a frustrating pattern that Newcastle fans are growing all too familiar with. The Magpies start strong and create chances, but fail to put them away and are then punished against the run of play.

• Eddie Howe reveals there were two ‘massive’ positives to come from Newcastle’s defeat to West Ham

All momentum built up before the November international break evaporated and Newcastle reverted to looking sloppy in front of goal.

Newcastle fans grew frustrated with Anthony Gordon after his wasteful performance, while Alexander Isak also missed a glorious chance in the first half.

Eddie Howe highlights key mistake Newcastle will ‘rue’

Eddie Howe gave his assessment of Monday night’s performance after the full-time whistle and admitted that he was pleased with the first 60 minutes but “didn’t like” the final 30 when players were forced out of position.

He has the very difficult task of figuring out why Newcastle perform better as underdogs and are unable to take advantage of games where they are able to dominate possession.

Speaking to Sky Sports after the game, Howe believes one key mistake made by Newcastle is that they “tried a bit too hard to score”.

Howe said: “I’m pretty pleased with the first 60 minutes albeit we’re losing the game 2-0. We opened them up and had chances to score.

“Up to that point I was pretty pleased but the last 30 minutes I didn’t enjoy. We tried a bit too hard to score. We’ll rue that when we watch the game back.

“For both goals we know we made individual mistakes. It was disappointing from our perspective. Very uncharacteristic from us because we’ve defended well in recent weeks.”

Newcastle must solve goal crisis

In 12 Premier League games this season, Newcastle have only scored 13 goals – the fewest of any sides in the top 14 positions.

Position	Team	Played MP	Won W	Drawn D	Lost L	For GF	Against GA	Diff GD	Points Pts
8	Aston VillaAston Villa	12	5	4	3	19	19	0	19
9	FulhamFulham	12	5	3	4	17	17	0	18
10	NewcastleNewcastle	12	5	3	4	13	13	0	18
11	BrentfordBrentford	12	5	2	5	22	22	0	17
12	Man UtdManchester United	12	4	4	4	13	13	0	16

Even more concerning is that only five players have found the back of the net for Newcastle this season with Isak leading the way with four goals.

READ MORE: Eddie Howe confirms ‘slight concern’ as Newcastle dealt fresh double injury blow

Callum Wilson returned against West Ham which will be a boost to Newcastle’s attacking options, but Howe desperately needs his players to all start chipping in.

A new role for Isak could solve the goal crisis if played alongside Wilson up front, but it is not only Newcastle’s strikers who need to step up.