West Ham United offered fight to come from two behind but had to settle for a 3-2 defeat on their travels to Newcastle on Saturday afternoon after howlers from Lukasz Fabianski and Craig Dawson.

Here are our player ratings for the Irons from St James’ Park…

Starting XI:

Lukasz Fabianski: 4/10

Failed to communicate with Issa Diop, who would've dealt with Allan Saint-Maximin’s shot before the Hammers duo bundled the ball over the line between them. Gifted the Toon a second goal just moments later, letting the ball slip through his hands after misjudging yet another corner, dropping it right at the feet of Joelinton to score.

Craig Dawson: 3/10

After an early yellow card for a foul on Joelinton, he was given his marching orders 10 minutes before the break after chasing down a heavy first touch and clattering into Newcastle’s Brazilian forward. To further pile misery on the Irons, the Magpies scored from that break.

Angelo Ogbonna: 6/10

An important clearance to save Fabianski’s blushes in the early stages of his return from eight games out with a high ankle sprain. Kept West Ham in the game with a team-high three clearances but failed to inspire a win.

Issa Diop: 5/10

Culpable for a horrific mix-up with Fabianski for Newcastle’s opening goal, having failed to sort out who would deal with Saint-Maximin’s shot. Managed to keep his head up and later got on the end of Jarrod Bowen’s delivery to get West Ham back in the game.

Vladimir Coufal: 6/10

A willing runner down the right-hand channel for West Ham and could have scored his first goal for the Irons midway through the second period, only to be denied by a well-placed Martin Dubravka. The quality of his deliveries was occasionally lacking, seeing that possession was often turned over.

Mark Noble: 6/10

On set piece duties after overcoming an elbow injury to feature, but didn’t have a great deal of impact before being replaced by Said Benrahma and handing over the captain’s armband to Ogbonna.

[snack-amp-story url="https://www.footballfancast.com/web-stories/latest-west-ham-news-and-views" title="Latest West Ham news, views and gossip!"]

Tomas Soucek: 6/10

A predominantly quiet afternoon from West Ham’s top scorer but dipped into the action to offer the Irons an aerial presence in the Newcastle penalty area. Occasionally carried possession through midfield and played a superb 50-yard ball to spread play out to Coufal.

Ben Johnson: 8/10

Tasked with offering the Irons width on the left in the absence of hamstring-injury duo Arthur Masuaku and Aaron Cresswell, made his most telling contribution to pull off an excellent goal-line clearance to deny Jacob Murphy in the late stages. A lot of promise from West Ham’s £2.7m-rated academy graduate, who made a team-high three key passes.

Pablo Fornals: 5/10

A loose backpass cheaply turned over possession and forced Dawson into a foul on Joelinton, resulting in the centre-back being cautioned. Smashed an effort wide of the goal midway through the first half and wasted a lofted cross in stoppage time.

Jarrod Bowen: 6/10

A quiet day while tasked with leading the attack in the absence of Michail Antonio as he continues to recover from a hamstring injury, but Bowen lifted his head to find Diop in the box with a pinpoint chip for a route back into the game.

Jesse Lingard: 6/10

Got on the ball plenty after the break as Newcastle sought to sit in and protect their two-goal lead, but wasted a hatful of chances with either poor deliveries or hopeful shots. Made up for his off-moments with a thunderous penalty to pull West Ham level.

Substitutes:

Said Benrahma: 6/10 (on 75th min)

Tried a number of delicate runs after his introduction but could not squeeze through often enough. Delivered a brilliant ball into the box in stoppage time but no West Ham player got on the end of it.

Manuel Lanzini: N/A (on 87th min)

Little time to influence the game after replacing Lingard, who required treatment for a hamstring issue which appeared to be cramp. Took a late corner but his delivery was awful.

Ryan Fredericks: N/A (on 90+4)

Unused subs: Nathan Trott (GK), David Martin (GK), Frederik Alves, Fabian Balbuena, Conor Coventry, Manuel Lanzini, Andriy Yarmolenko

AND in other news, a £4.5m-rated West Ham enforcer is being lined up for a summer move out of east London…