Dion Dublin rages at ‘really poor’ West Ham after Konstantinos Mavropanos footage vs Newcastle
Dion Dublin hasn’t held back in aiming his frustration towards West Ham United after their defeat to Newcastle on Sunday evening.
The Hammers travelled to St James’ Park in desperate need of three points to potentially leave the relegation battle in their own hands.
That wasn’t the case as the Magpies netted three to cancel out a Taty Castellanos wondergoal in a 3-1 victory.
Nuno Espirito Santo has to take a portion of the blame for that, as his back-three selection only went against the Irons on the day.
Dublin was far from impressed as he watched West Ham lose to Newcastle, pointing out their failures that started from minute one.
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Dion Dublin baffled by West Ham defending vs Newcastle
There isn’t very much positive to say about the Hammers’ performance in the north east in such a must-win outing.
The Magpies were able to take their chances and dominate for the most part, while the away side just failed to make their presence felt across the entire 90 minutes.
| Stat | Newcastle | West Ham |
| Possession (%) | 55 | 45 |
| Expected goals | 1.73 | 0.95 |
| Shots | 15 | 15 |
| Big chances | 3 | 1 |
| Corners | 9 | 1 |
Things were certainly made easier for Eddie Howe’s side by the claret and blue outfit lining up with a calamitous back-three formation.
That just didn’t work from kick-off until it was changed after 26 minutes, something which left Dublin massively frustrated on Match of the Day when analysing footage.
He said: “The way they set up, if you go with a three, it has to be tight to force your opponents down the side of you. This was a very early warning shot to West Ham that Newcastle were going to play short and go long when they have to. I’m thinking, ‘Head the ball out and regroup.’
“He [Mavropanos] lets the ball bounce, and then he slips, and then you’re in trouble. That was so early in the game that they didn’t learn from their mistakes, and it happened time and time again.
“I don’t know what they are doing, why the gaps are so big between the three defenders, and you have one player waltzing through them like they aren’t even there. Really poor defending.”
West Ham were pretty terrible against Newcastle, and it was instilled from the very start what sort of performance would be on show.
Mads Hermansen didn’t help matters vs Newcastle
If your defensive line is struggling, you need a solid performance from your goalkeeper to bail you out at times.
Mads Hermansen certainly didn’t supply that at St James’ with his efforts to play out from the back, only costing his side dearly in the end.
His ball out after 15 minutes was picked up on by Harvey Barnes and ultimately allowed Nick Woltemade to open the scoring.
Former Fulham and Chelsea keeper Mark Schwarzer was unimpressed alongside Dublin on Match of the Day.
He added: “It starts from the goalkeeper, it’s a poor pass out. There’s no reason to pass the ball away; Barnes is quick to pounce. It’s just poor.”
A day to forget for the Irons, but not one that will just disappear from the thinking, as it looks likely to be enough to send them down.