Newcastle United winger Anthony Gordon made a comment which some may perceive as disrespectful towards Sunderland following the Wear-Tyne derby at St James’ Park on Sunday (22 March).
Gordon opened the scoring ten minutes in to settle a few Newcastle nerves, but Régis Le Bris’ gallant Sunderland side continued to believe and cause the home side an array of issues early on, initially with no reward.
However, the Wearside outfit’s persistence paid off in the 57th minute when Chemsdine Talbi fired the visitors level after Magpies goalkeeper Aaron Ramsdale failed to deal with an in-swinging ball.
Just when the game looked to be heading for a 1-1 draw, Sunderland grabbed a shock winner when Brian Brobbey bundled home, to the delight of the travelling fans and the dismay of the home faithful.
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The result saw Sunderland move above Newcastle into 11th, while Eddie Howe’s side dropped to 12th with seven Premier League matches to play.
Shortly after the match, the inquest into the defeat began, with several casting blame towards Howe, with Newcastle having crashed out of the Champions League round of 16 with a 7-2 defeat (8-3 on aggregate) against Barcelona on Wednesday (18 March) to sum up a torrid week.
Speaking to club media after the match, Newcastle’s Gordon admitted that losing to their rivals was “not good enough”, while maintaining that Sunderland are “not a very good team” compared to the Magpies.
“Probably worse because the other one’s away,” he began when dissecting the result. “I think the way we lost the game, going ahead one-nil — I thought they were really poor.
“We let them into the game and gave them the win. The frustrating thing is, in my opinion, they’re not a very good team compared to us. We shouldn’t lose to them.
“Away from home, it’s more difficult because they have their fans, an atmosphere and a bit more pressure but, at home, we should not lose that game — not with the first half we had.
“We haven’t been good enough starting second halves and it’s an ongoing problem.
“Football’s always like that. The most important thing, always, is the next game. It’s been a relentless run of fixtures but that’s going to take a long time to get over for us and the fans because nothing can resurrect that.”
Following the March international break, in which Gordon will likely feature for England in friendlies against Japan and Uruguay, Newcastle will face Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park on 12 April.
Sunderland return to Premier League action at home against relegation-threatened Spurs on the same day.
Topics: Newcastle United, Sunderland, Anthony Gordon, Premier League, Football
Luke Davies