Another year, another typically firey Wear-Tyne derby. Newcastle will no doubt have walked away with most of the plaudits thanks to a strong and spirited display despite the loss of fearsome defensive midfielder Cheick Tiote to a first half red card that has seemingly split the Newcastle fans in half, and in truth Sunderland never looked like capitalising too much on their one man advantage, even with 65 minutes to do it in.
Both managers can probably be happy with a point: Pardew given the nature of the draw – though not given how long the Magpies protected their slender lead – and O’Neill given how poorly his team played for good portions of the game. Neither side has yet reached their full potential this season, and neither has got all of their best players working together particularly well, and it is down to the managers to change something as we begin to head into the busiest point of the season. Because come Christmas, if neither team is really firing on all cylinders, that is when fans and chairmen tend to get a little itchy – not that either manager should be particularly worried about the chop at this early stage.
And now the dust has settled on yesterday’s derby, it’s time to start the inquisition into what we learned from the game.
Click within to reveal the 8 biggest lessons from this season’s Wear-Tyne derby…
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5 Comments
Without DOUBT Newcastle were the better side. Always have been and probably always will be. But we all love these fixtures. Cant wait till they visit St James :)Bring it on!!!
Always have been?!?! How come Sunderland have won more league titles then Simon? Clueless, absolutely clueless. Newcastle deserved a point for the way they hung on and defended, Sunderland huffed and puffed but the pressure paid off.
Obviously written by a Newcastle fan, seems blatantly biased to me and anyone with the ability to read.
What culture must try harder in the future. 3/10.
People can try and call bias against this writer but they’ve laid the facts on the table quite well.
Sunderland were out matched for the entire game. Against 10 men they couldn’t make anything happen, despite the numerical advantage.
The sending off for Tiote was a bad call when compared to the challenge on Ameobi (who received a yellow card for berating the Ref about it when Tiote was sent off).
Colo received man of the match and deservedly so.
There wasn’t much positive to say about Sunderland for the entire game, they looked unimaginative and never seemed like scoring. The fact that their goal came from a fluke is testament to just how bad they played. Only 5 goals for them this season and all from one player…you can’t say this is a good sign…and from the performance against Newcastle, the manager needs to be either asking some serious questions or being asked them by the chairman.
I think it says it all really when you consider that Demba Ba is now the Mackems seccond highest scorer. Nowt more to be said really. “Always will be” is just about right.