Jarrod Bowen identifies one thing Newcastle United ‘always do’ – they failed vs West Ham

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Newcastle United were well beaten by a lively West Ham United on Monday night.

After three consecutive victories, the Magpies missed the chance to go within a point of the top four.

Eddie Howe’s side looked lacklustre as they fell to a 2-0 defeat to a well-organised Hammers side at St James’ Park, managing just two shots on target.

The Toon boss also confirmed Bruno Guimaraes and Joe Willock were substituted due to injury, adding insult to injury – quite literally.

A capacity crowd under the lights is usually a good omen for Newcastle, but goals from Tomáš Souček and Aaron Wan-Bissaka kept the 52,000 fans quiet.

Newcastle may have felt hard done by after a second-half Magpies penalty shout was waved away by Craig Pawson.

It was a disappointing collapse from a side that usually make St James’ Park a fortress. Howe must now regroup ahead of a visit to Crystal Palace on Saturday.

Jarrod Bowen on how Newcastle ‘always’ score at St James’ Park

One of the standout players for West Ham was England International Jarrod Bowen. The 27-year-old assisted Wan-Bissaka for the Hammers’ second and looked threatening throughout.

The Magpies failed to score at St James’ Park for the second time since May 2023, much to the delight of Bowen.

“I said we needed a performance before the game and I think we did that,” Bowen told Sky Sports Monday Night Football in his post-match press conference.

He continued: “Newcastle always score at home so to keep them to a clean sheet and score two goals, it is an atmosphere that you have to control and I think we did that perfectly.

“You always are playing to win the games. We know the quality we have and it was a beautiful ball and a beautiful header. Then it was down to us to get the second goal. If you sit on a goal here it can come and haunt you.

“That was more like the level of what it takes to play for this club. The desire and work rate from everyone. A clean sheet away at Newcastle is not an easy thing.

“We have a massive game on Saturday against Arsenal and we need to be consistently winning games on the bounce. This is a start tonight and we can take a lot from the game tonight.”

Jarrod Bowen came close to joining Newcastle United in 2020

Things could’ve looked a lot different for Bowen if things went Newcastle’s way.

In January 2020, Steve Bruce was Toon boss and was keen to sign a young Bowen from Sky Bet Championship side Hull City after impressing for the Tigers.

Bowen believed a move to Newcastle was ‘nailed on’. The England international admitted that he was even looking for houses on Tyneside ahead of the move.

Unfortunately, the deal collapsed after Toon hierarchy refused to pay the £14 million required.

He would then sign for the Hammers on deadline day for £20 million – £14 million upfront and £ 6 million add-ons.

It evidently wasn’t meant to be for Bowen to Newcastle, but that winter transfer window will be one Newcastle fans look back on with deep regret and will be left wondering what could’ve been.