West Ham fans journeyed to Tyneside hoping desperately for a win that could help them stay up.
Inside 20 minutes Newcastle United were 2-0 up.
West Ham fans fearing the worst and they never looked like recovering, Eddie Howe’s side winning 3-1 in the end and the Hammers now looking doomed.
If Spurs get a point or better at Chelsea on Tuesday night then their fate will be sealed.
Even if Chelsea defeat Tottenham, West Ham fans would still need their team to win at home against Leeds on Sunday and Spurs lose at home to Everton.
So what did the Hammers fans make of Sunday at St James’ Park?
West Ham fans commenting via their Knees Up Mother Brown message board:
‘Sitting by the Tyne livid with Nuno. He got the formation and selection wrong. Tati and Pablo changed our fortunes when they arrived. Wilson never plays well when he starts or on his own. Once Tati came on we matched Newcastle.’
‘That was utterly humiliating.
We went there in good faith expecting a basic, hard working performance.
We got a shambles.
Newcastle couldn’t believe how easy it was.
You could feel it in the stadium.
As a long time supporter I’ve seen some dreadful performances but that takes the biscuit for a combination of incompetence, cowards and disdain. We should all get our money back.’
‘Just got back from the match. Nuno got his selection and tactics wrong and not one player sweated blood for the cause. Unbelievably passive performance from us given what was at stake. Didn’t think I would ever have to say it, but after that gutless performance we deserve to be relegated.’
‘Exactly how I feel after travelling to Newcastle. No heart or fight.’
‘This whole season has been exhausting and my weekends have mainly been filled with anxiety and dread watching our lot.
I need a break from it all.’
‘Financial crisis looming. Relegated again. Worst stadium in the country. Time is up.’
‘No excuse for that performance tonight, we were absolutely woeful.
Shocking individual errors and very poor finishing cost us again.
Can’t even blame Newcastle, they barely tried and still beat us. Embarrassing.’
‘So poor we can’t even blame VAR’
‘Well done to all the travelling fans yesterday , I was proud to be among you again.
We certainly tried to make ourselves heard.
The effort of our team though was abysmal.’
‘Let’s face it, there’s only one person to blame for this unholy mess, SULLIVAN,he has killed us.’
‘The decision to start Wilson made perfect sense. Most in-form striker in the squad playing against his old club with a point to prove on a day we required goals.
Didn’t quite work out due to two early defensive errors. The joys of football management.’
‘Howe must have been pi..ing himself seeing that starting XI… there’s a reason they let the bloke leave on a free 12 months ago.’
‘Yes. Fully played into Newcastle’s hand with the tactical setup and the inclusion of Wilson.’
‘Nuno got that one wrong. It happens. He realised it after 25mins, but we were 2-0 down and the game had pretty much gone by then.
I can understand why he lined up like that as it worked well (to a degree) against Arsenal. But this was a totally different game. We can all be critical on hind sight I guess, but that one was on the gaffa.’
‘Repeatedly undone down our left hand side throughout the afternoon. Diouf looked like the callow youth he is, Fernandes looked disinterested, and Summerville showed little to no effort to track back. Left Barnes with the freedom of St James’ Park too much.’
‘The complete wrong decision to start Wilson, who ain’t strong, nor quick enough (anymore) to play the lone striker role from the start.
With him up front we had no outlet to either go long or play the channels. The result was, that our back three got sucked in very deep from the start, as we couldn’t get going in transition and were outnumbered in nearly all areas of the pitch. Only got into the game, when we scrapped the system completely and got a player next nearer to Wilson.’
‘It was the wrong decision to play him up front on his own, in that formation, especially for a player that doesn’t win a lot in the air, nor is very fast. In theory Pablo would have been a better player to start if wedded to that system, with the thought process of bringing Bowen and Summerville into play to win flick on/lay offs from him.
Wilson is a poacher and his role coming on with 15 to go was perfect for him and the team.
However, him starting is not the reason we lost.’
‘The starting line up proved a tactical disaster.
Leaving out Taty and Pablo to play Wilson meant we didn’t press or chase their back four when they had the ball and meant Soucek had to come out of the defensive position to press the ball in midfield to early which gave Newcastle acres of space in the middle to play straight through. And switching the centre backs to have Todibo start on the left was a massive error and completely unfathomable.’
‘This is what I have said to my NUFC colleagues at work. They didnt have to try anything clever. Defender plays a straight ball through to midfield who then play a straight ball through to attack. No diagonals or overlaps neccesary. Opposition can attack at will creating that sense of panic.
Tbf that panic seemed to be there from kick off.’
‘At least I look forward to not being relegated every weekend next year. It’s exhausting!’
‘You can build a case to suggest all 3 goals conceded were comedy Gold, with the third being the pick of the bunch. A shocking throw in by Diouf, and worse control by Pablo, possession lost in our own half, and 5 seconds later Newcastle had their third.
Real keystones cops stuff.
Newcastle United were not that good today, we, however, for the opening quarter of the game were absolutely pathetic. No fight, insufficient effort, no ideas. On a day when the points were always going to go to whoever wanted it the most, we were found wanting.
We simply didn’t fancy it.’
‘Should have had a pen, but otherwise, the only man to blame is the manager.
Played into Newcastle’s hands with naive tactics.’
‘100% blame nuno for that. There was no reason to set us up the same as arsenal. We know our best form of defence is attack and newcastle are not arsenal. Had he set us up properly from the start we could well have won that but he has done this so many times he has lost us many points with a team if set up correctly can win.’
‘We started like a team on the beach and Newcastle were happy to just walk around, and still they were far too good.’
‘Bowen gone Completely off the boil. Reminds me of Kane at the last Euros when he was dreadful for England but we couldn’t drop him, despite showing decent form before and was almost certain he was carrying an injury or a knock.
Summerville also back to his pre-purple patch form since coming back from his injury.’
‘Who runs the analytic department for the next match, surely they would have seen that playing a back 3/5 doesn’t usually work against Newcastle?.’
‘Newcastle’s attacks werent even sophisticated. Straight balls through the open middle.
However, tactics only half the problem, they don’t explain the complete error strewn, undercookedness of the team.
Absolutely appalling from every player in that first twenty minutes.’
‘Newcastle work hard and intensely most the time and play in triangles to by pass your CM.
If you want to beat or match them you need to close down the space extra fast, flood the middle, and counter on them.
So you don’t want WIlson, you want Taty, maybe even Pablo in the CM to harass and stop that passing pattern.
Wilson might have worked better if Bowen was playing…’
‘Spurs probably will lose their games or at least logic would indicate that to be the case. Leeds will beat us more heavily than Newcastle just did though.’
‘Won’t miss any of these players tbh.
I actually hope spurs get a point on Tuesday and end it all.’
‘This would at least spare us the final day humiliation.’