Toothless Toon taught lesson in taking chances by West Ham United as NUFC lose 0-2

Earlier this season Newcastle United would start games brightly and then fall asleep, often resulting in dropped points and that was once again the order of the day tonight.

Julen Lopetegui's West Ham United came to St James' Park looking for a win to save the gaffer's job and that pressure produced a diamond in the form of a comfortable win for the Hammers.

West Ham scored with their first chance on goal at the start of each half, with Tomas Soucek scoring in the first half and Aaron Wan-Bissaka in the second. Both goals came very much against the run of play, but after those goals went in, they settled into the game and Newcastle had no answers.

A telling stat midway through the second half showed that Newcastle had over 30 touches inside the West Ham box but only 13 shots of which two were on target ... what are we doing in the box if we're not shooting? You can't score if you don't have a shot it's football 101!

VAR is the biggest waste of time

VAR played its part again as Alexander Isak had an early goal ruled out for offside, which was the right decision, but in the second half the Magpies were denied a blatant penalty after substitute Callum Wilson was brought down on the goal line.

The referee ignored it and VAR cleared it, but you'll not see a more blatant penalty all season.

Had that penalty been awarded and converted then the game would have played out very differently.

Newcastle seemed to visibly give up in the second half

Instead, Newcastle just seemed to give up. Eddie Howe threw attackers on the pitch to try and inject some impetus, but when one of those attackers is Jacob Murphy and another is finding his way back after four months out, we didn't stand much chance.

In terms of our defence, all we can say is come back, Dan Burn, all is forgiven. Lloyd Kelly was at fault for both goals, getting nowhere near his man on either occasion. Yes, he made one very important block, but he was shocking.

Anthony Gordon was completely anonymous while Joelinton was a one-man team for much of the first half and, despite giving the ball away plenty, was one of three players who came away with any credit along with Tino Livramento and Lewis Hall.

There was a worry that the international break would ruin our momentum and it very much proved to be the case.