Eddie Howe said he was to blame after Newcastle lost their first Tyne Wear derby in more than a decade at St James’ Park.
Brian Brobby’s 90th-minute winner gave the Magpies an early lead through Anthony Gordon, completing an unlikely comeback for Sunderland.
However, the defeat put the Black Cats ahead of their Premier League rivals and extended their unbeaten Premier League Tyne Wear derby record to 11 in a row.
Club legend Alan Shearer described the second-half play on social media after the match as “pathetic, weak, lazy and limp”, with Howe accepting responsibility for the result.
Howe told the post-match press conference: “It’s very painful. It’s most painful for the supporters. My thoughts are with them right now.”
“When you never perform, when you know the magnitude of the game and you don’t get a result, you expect to be criticized and I understand why. I understand the reaction after the game. We didn’t do our job well enough today and we’re desperately disappointed in ourselves.
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“I’m working hard. I’m disappointed with how I did today and how I did last week. The Barcelona game was very tough and today was even tougher. As I said after the Brentford game, I take responsibility for that myself.”
“I’m not going to deflect it anywhere, and I’m definitely not going to deflect it to the players. I’m going to protect the players until my last breath. That’s the way I look at it, and it’s going to be a tough and painful few days for me.”
“Newcastle were not helped by missing players in midfield”
Howe’s afternoon was marred by the revelation that midfielder Sandro Tonali was found to be unfit to be in the match-day squad after sustaining a groin injury against Barcelona in midweek.
The Italian joins Bruno Guimarães and Luis Miley on the sideline, and Howe believes their absence has had a negative impact on the balance of the engine room in which he has chosen to play.
Sandro Tonali was in the stand for the injury-defeated Tyne Wear derby game.
“We missed the midfielders Bruno, Lewis Miley and Sandro, who give us control and technique,” he added.
“Without all three of these players, the team became slightly unbalanced. That was the main result of poor technique and we lost the control of the game that we had in the first half.”
“Then the game went into a transition period. We were a little tired and then we looked even more tired and we made more mistakes. My first thought is to point out the technical offering. We made the game too much the way they wanted it to be and that didn’t help us.”
“We’re not that far away,” Howe insists.
The defeat leaves Newcastle in 12th place in the Premier League, seven points behind fifth-placed Liverpool. Despite this, Howe doesn’t think they are far from the top level.
“It’s very easy to look at everything as bad, but I don’t think we’re that far off. Our recent form has been inconsistent. It’s been patchy, it’s been patchy all season.”
“There were good parts, there were bad parts. I always felt like we were steadily getting a little bit better than we were earlier in the season. Maybe the progress wasn’t as quick as I would have liked. But some of the games, especially the last few weeks, have been relentless for us.”
Howe believes Newcastle are not far from their best despite defeat to Sunderland
The Tyne Wear derby was already the Magpies’ 51st game of the season, and while Howe was quick to avoid using fatigue as an excuse, he admitted the team has not been able to keep up with their desire for freer football.
“This is an incredible number of points and we are very disappointed about it,” he added.
“Certainly, from my side, there is no desire in me to take the lead and protect the lead. Quite the contrary. We want to aim for more goals and that is always in the psychology of the coaching, to continue to attack and to continue to be in front, but for some reason we are not able to maintain it.
“We’ve become very passive, very reactive, and that’s the case today. That’s very unfortunate.”
Newcastle put themselves at risk if they don’t stay out of sight during the break
Analysis by Sky Sports’ Callum Bishop:
Eddie Howe may not want to use fatigue as an excuse for Newcastle’s performance, but it’s clear fatigue is an unavoidable problem at St James’ Park.
51 games through March is an extreme number. In a sense, the Magpies are the ones responsible for their own downfall by becoming too successful. Winning the cup won’t help their workload and being eliminated from Europe by Barcelona could be a blessing in disguise for the rest of the season.
What was clear against Sunderland was that Howe’s men had lost control. Once I got to the break, I felt relatively comfortable. But 1-0 is a dangerous scoreline, especially if energy levels are dropping quickly.
It’s as if Newcastle need to build up a big lead in the first 45 minutes of a fresh match to avoid capitulating in the second half when they have nothing left in the tank. At the top level, this is easier said than done. After all, Howe needs to do well with his team between now and May.
