I could have taken any one of them off, says

EDDIE Howe revealed he told his whole Newcastle United team that any one of them could have been taken off at halftime as they slumped to a desperate defeat at West Ham, writes LEE RYDER.

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In the end Howe hooked Anthony Gordon, Emil Krafth and £69million man Nick Woltemade before labelling the 3-1 defeat to the Hammers as ‘poor’ while also claiming his players they weren't at the races mentally.

In a measured Press conference in the bowels of the London Stadium, Howe admitted his team must accept criticism and ensure they put it right against Athletic Bilbao in midweek.

Howe said: “The dynamism wasn't there. The physicality and the energy were missing in our performance. The difficult thing to take from that is we rotated the team a lot in midweek for freshness in the players. That did not seem to be there. It is hugely frustrating for us. That was a poor performance. We try to be open and honest with how we play and we weren't ourselves today.”