David Moyes admits his decision to bring Kalvin Phillips on 'did not work'

David Moyes admits his decision to bring on Kalvin Phillips with West Ham leading 3-1 at Newcastle ‘did not work’, but he refused to criticise the substitute following the 4-3 defeat.

There were 21 minutes to play when the Manchester City loanee replaced Michail Antonio. He conceded a penalty for a foul on Anthony Gordon in the 77th minute - from which Alexander Isak scored - and was turned by Harvey Barnes for the goal that brought the home side’s victory in the 90th minute.

Moyes sought to explain his change afterwards.

‘I actually thought at that time when we went 3-1 up, Newcastle were there better team and still were,’ he began. ‘I thought an extra midfield player would give us more control in the middle of the pitch. Obviously, it didn’t work.

‘We needed a defensive structure that could be steady and see themselves through. We tried to find it by the change (Phillips on). We tried to find something that would give us more structure and a bit more organisation.

‘But I have to say, before the penalty kick, Newcastle missed two big chances in the middle of the goal, so that was the reason we made the change, not because we were thinking we were winning 3-1. They had missed big chances and I was trying to make sure we weren’t going to lose and make the change in a positive fashion. We tried to make it at that time, and obviously it didn’t work out.

‘But I’m not going to say anything about any player. I wouldn’t do that, it would be wrong.’

Meanwhile, Eddie Howe hailed the impact of his own substitute, with Barnes scoring the equaliser for 3-3 before his late winner.

‘Harvey deserves that,’ he said of a player who has missed the bulk of the season because of injury. ‘The thing with Harvey is that he’s a goalscorer. You look