STEVE McCLAREN last night refused to blame Newcastle United’s 2-0 defeat to West Ham on the interrupted preparation caused by traffic problems outside Upton Park, but admitted the Premier League rejected the club’s attempts to delay the kick-off.

With the Magpies’ team coach stuck in heavy traffic a mile or so away from West Ham’s ground, club officials contacted senior members of the Premier League in an attempt to have the kick-off put back by at least a quarter of an hour.

Their approach was rejected, and despite the assistance of a hastily-arranged police escort, Newcastle’s players did not arrive at the ground until 25 minutes or so before kick-off.

 

The Northern Echo:

The Newcastle coach caught up in traffic en route to last night's game Picture: Tom Monaghan @TMwhufc via Twitter

Their pre-match warm-up was cut to around ten minutes, and things rapidly got worse as two goals from Dimitri Payet sent McClaren’s side crashing to the foot of the Premier League table.

It is not yet clear whether the Premier League’s decision was influenced by the fact that last night’s game was being televised on Sky Sports, but while McClaren admitted the circumstances were far from ideal, he was reluctant to use them as an excuse for his side’s lacklustre performance.

“We can make excuses and say the preparation wasn’t ideal when it needs to be,” said the Newcastle head coach. “We weren’t warming up until 20 to eight, and preparation is key with everything.

“We felt the preparation wasn’t long enough, and we asked for the start to be delayed. I’ve been in football long enough, and it’s usually permitted. But it wasn’t and we had to deal with that.

“I think it was the Premier League that made that call, but it’s no excuse. We didn’t do what we had been doing for four games. In terms of organisation, discipline, defending well and being hard to beat – which we had been for four games – we lacked all of that.

“The goals were poor and we shot ourselves in the foot, especially with the second one. We huffed and puffed, but this is a learning process and we’ve learned a lot from tonight.”

Newcastle’s failings were apparent at both ends of the field. Their goalless run in the Premier League now extends to 402 minutes, while their defence was repeatedly exposed as West Ham’s attackers broke to devastating effect.

The season might just be five games old, but Saturday’s home game with Watford already feels like a hugely important occasion, with Newcastle having slipped behind North-East rivals Sunderland, who are 19th, on goals scored.

“We’ve got talented players out there, but we didn’t do the basics well enough,” said McClaren. “We had been for four games, and that had kept us in games, but we didn’t do that here.

“It’s a process, and this is normal. These sorts of nights and games are painful to go through, but sometimes you have to go through them to learn about individuals and your team. We have to learn and move on, and make sure we give a big reaction on Saturday.

“The players have been told it’s disappointing, but all you can do in football  is dust yourself down and look forward to the challenge of a home game, and put this game and result to bed.”

Last night’s game saw McClaren renew rivalries with Slaven Bilic, and the Magpies boss was quick to pay tribute to the Croatian, who was in charge of his national side when they won at Wembley in 2007.

“We’ve had chats in the past,” said McClaren. “Congratulations to Slaven, his team deserved to win. Once they got the first goal, they went on from there.

“They’ve signed good players, and I said you don’t win at Arsenal and Liverpool without being a good team. They showed that, and we didn’t match it.”