West Ham suffered their worst opening day defeat since 1988* at St.James Park tonight, shipping four goals in a disastrous second half performance to a rampant Newcastle side.
With the scores level at half time, the Hammers had every right to feel happy with their performance, setting out as they did to contain the home side.But yet again it was an all too familiar story after the break, raising the spectres of Blackburn and Everton last season once Lomana Lua Lua gave the home side the lead on the hour mark with a close range shot.
Twenty five minutes later it was 4-0, with Lua Lua, Shearer and Solano all finding the net, leaving the Hammers starting the season in the worst possible way - at the bottom of the Premiership table.
Missing Freddie Kanoute and Paolo Di Canio through injury, an unfamiliar partnership of Joe Cole and Jermain Defoe led the Hammers attack, whilst Seb Schemmel was promoted to midfield alongside new boy Edouard Cisse, making his competitive debut.
But despite the best efforts of the young Hammers, Glenn Roeder's side struggled to produce any worthwhile chances throughout the game.
They will be acutely aware that they must perform much better on Saturday against reigning champions Arsenal if they are to take anything out of that one.
A full match report will follow soon ...
* And guess what happened that season? We were relegated, finishing 19th. The team which finished below us, bottom of the league?
Newcastle United ...
West Ham United: James, Pearce, Winterburn, Dailly, Repka, Carrick, Sinclair, Schemmel (Labant 71), Cisse (Moncur 71), Cole, Defoe.
Subs not used: van der Gouw, Breen, Camara.
Newcastle United: Given, Hughes, Dabizas, Bramble, Bernard, Solano (McClen 87), Dyer, Jenas, Viana (Elliott 89), Shearer, Lua-Lua (Ameobi 81).
Subs not used: Harper, Griffin.
Goals: Lua Lua (61, 72), Shearer (76), Solano (85)
Booked: Winterburn (34, mistimed slide tackle), Cisse (38, foul - bad call), Shearer (77, late tackle)
Referee: Paul Durkin (5)
Attendance: 51,072
Man of the Match: Joe Cole (9)
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