Eddie Howe struggled to defend Newcastle United's "unrecognisable" performance in their 3-1 defeat to West Ham in the Premier League on Sunday. 

Howe watched on as his team took the lead with just four minutes on the clock through Jacob Murphy, but that was about as good as it got for the Magpies at London Stadium. 

West Ham were ahead at the break after Lucas Paqueta's shot from distance squeezed under Nick Pope before Sven Botman turned Aaron Wan-Bissaka's cross into his own net.

In the second half, Newcastle struggled in the final third, registering just one shot on target, which came from William Osula's tame header just before the 90th minute. 

And the visitors' misery was compounded in the 97th minute when Jarrod Bowen led a quick break, with the ball ending up in the back of the net when Tomas Soucek slid in. 

"I can't really defend the performance, it was really disappointing after that start. I thought we could control the game, but we didn't," Howe told Sky Sports.

"We let West Ham in with some uncharacteristic errors. Collectively, we were off today and you could see that. We gave ourselves problems.

"We are hugely disappointed and frustrated with ourselves because we've missed a huge opportunity for back-to-back wins.

"The feel of the team was wrong. We were lacking in physicality today. I have to go away and reflect on it. This falls into the category that we didn't perform.

"The longer that first half went on, the more frustrated I was with our performance. We were unrecognisable in certain aspects of our game.

"This was a poor performance, but they happen. It leaves us with a gap to bridge, and we can only do that with consistency, and we haven't found that this season."

Newcastle sit in 13th on 12 points from their opening 10 games this season (W3 D3 L4). 

Indeed, it is the poorest start to a Premier League campaign by a Howe-led side since 2017-18, when Bournemouth won just seven points from their opening 10 matches. 

The result also further highlighted Newcastle's struggles away from St. James' Park in the Premier League. 

They have now gone winless in eight consecutive top-flight away games (D4 L4) for the first time since a nine-game run from the start of the 2021-22 season, with Howe overseeing the final three matches of that streak.  

Newcastle's attack also failed to fire, with Howe making three half-time alterations that saw top scorer Nick Woltemade and Anthony Gordon replaced by Osula and Jacob Ramsey. 

The Magpies ended the contest with an expected goals (xG) total of just 0.54 from their 12 shots, only four of which were on target, compared to West Ham's 1.67 from their 15 attempts at Pope's net. 

However, Murphy, who has now registered 14 goal involvements (seven goals, seven assists) in the Premier League in 2025, believed the defeat was just a bump in the road ahead of Newcastle's return to Champions League action on Wednesday. 

"That was a bad day at the office. Collectively, we know we weren't good enough," Murphy added. "We will just go home and reflect.

"I think this is a moment where we have to stay calm and not be reactive. We know we have to put things right, and we have some good games to do that."