'Magnificent at times' - Pundit hails West Ham despite Newcastle United loss

Ex-West Ham striker Dean Ashton has said his former club were 'magnificent' at times against Newcastle United. The Hammers went on to lose 4-3 against Eddie Howe's side at St James' Park.

The visitors fell behind early on after an Alexander Isak penalty. However, they stormed into a 3-1 lead after goals by Michail Antonio, Mohammed Kudus and Jarrod Bowen and looked on their way to an impressive three points.

However, Newcastle turned the game around after a brace by Harvey Barnes and a last-gasp winner by Isak.

Ashton, who was covering the match for talkSPORT, said afterwards: "It is the same situation as it has been all season for David Moyes. They had moments of sheer brilliance to get themselves into the position (of 3-1) and then a little bit of negativity maybe to sit back.

"His substitutions will probably be questioned and he'll have to answer that as well. At times they were magnificent, they made the game what it was."

West Ham's attacking players like Kudus, Bowen, Antonio and Lucas Paqueta can cause problems to any opponents they come up against and Newcastle couldn't deal with them at times. However, defensively David Moyes' men were too weak and that is something that they need to work on.

They sat back and invited pressure and their substitutions were too negative. If they had stuck to their original game plan of taking the match to their opposition, they may have ended up winning.

This defeat leaves the Hammers sat in 7th place and the Toon Army are now only a point behind them in the table. West Ham have the chance to bounce back on Tuesday at home to Tottenham Hotspur, who are 5th and chasing down the Champions League.