Newcastle United fell to yet another derby defeat following a dismal display away at Sunderland.
Nick Woltemade’s own goal was enough to see Sunderland beat Newcastle United 1-0 in the first Premier League version of the Tyne-Wear derby in nine years.
While there wasn’t really much in it in terms of chances for either team, Newcastle were pitiful for most of the game.
Who was Newcastle United’s most disappointing player vs Sunderland?
Feel free to list all of them in the comments 👀
They were bullied all over the park and rarely looked like they even believed they could score at the Stadium of Light.
Indeed, it’s genuinely hard to believe that most of the team who played on Wearside are the same group of players who won the Carabao Cup in stunning fashion at Wembley only a few months ago.
Eddie Howe’s side were insipid and two comments from Gary Neville on commentary should frankly embarrass them.
What Gary Neville said about Newcastle United during Sunderland defeat
Neville was on co-commentary duty alongside Peter Drury as Sky Sports covered the game.
The former Manchester United and England defender is perhaps the leading football pundit in the country and while how much stock one puts in his opinion is a personal choice, there’s little doubt he’s someone to at least listen to.
In fact, that’s exactly what the Newcastle United players should do.
Two things Neville said during commentary should both alarm and embarrass them.
How has the loss to Sunderland made you feel about Eddie Howe as Newcastle United manager?
At one point, Neville said: “I’m not seeing a lot of idea about how Newcastle are going to get a goal.”
That’s a big concern and an alarming one at that.
Three new forwards who were signed for a total cost of around £165million (Woltemade, Anthony Elanga and Yoane Wissa) all played and not one of them looked like they even thought they could score.
Neville also said something that should cause embarrassment. He rightly claimed: “The red shirts have had a little more bite than the blue shirts.”
There is simply no excuse for that. Being up for the fight is the absolute minimum requirement. For most of the game, Newcastle looked scared.
The most worrying thing about Newcastle United’s loss to Sunderland
It’s difficult to definitively judge whether a team ‘wanted it more’ than the other aside from the eye test – which Newcastle did fail.
The Black Cats also made more tackles, interceptions and blocks, while also winning more ground duels.
That’s not to say there was no effort at all from Howe’s side, but Sunderland appeared to embrace the occasion. Newcastle withdrew from it and that is surely the most worrying aspect of all.
Granted, they were defending a lot deeper towards the end of the game which may skew the statistics somewhat, but – as Neville says – Newcastle never looked like scoring.
In all honesty, Newcastle were awful against Sunderland.
The worst part is that it’s not all that surprising…
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