Newcastle United crashed to a disappointing defeat against Sunderland in the Tyne-Wear derby at the weekend.
Sunderland scored a late goal to pick up a 2-1 win, and Brian Brobbey scored the winner for his side.
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Brian Brobbey on the battle with Dan Burn
After the game, Brobbey was asked about his battle with Dan Burn, and he responded (h/t Sunderland Echo): “I think it was a good battle. In the end, I won.”
The Dutch attacker put in a real shift against the Newcastle United defender and got the better of him. He will be delighted with his performance in the Derby, and the goal will give him a huge confidence boost. It will be interesting to see if he can help Sunderland finish the season strongly.
Burn will be unhappy with the result, and he will know that he could have done better in the game.
They impressed after promotion to the Premier League, but their form has been inconsistent in recent months. They will look to improve and finish the season on a high note now.
Huge blow for Newcastle
Meanwhile, the defeat will come as a huge blow for Newcastle. They have not been at their best this season, and manager Eddie Howe is already under a lot of pressure. The defeat against Sunderland will only pile further misery on the team and the manager. It will be interesting to see if Newcastle can bounce back strongly in the coming weeks.
Newcastle were expected to fight for European qualification this season and push for domestic trophies. Things have not gone according to plan for them. There have been rumours surrounding the manager’s long-term future, and it remains to be seen how the situation develops.
How Newcastle could still play in the UEFA Champions League next season
We have six players in the England Squad. It’s conceivable that we could provide three of the back four in the starting line-up in the finals. Add Bruno, Tonali & Miley to the mix and you can make a case for a top six finish for with the current squad. The corollary is that ‘England have no chance if they base the defence on our lot!
We can’t blame FFP in any way for this season when we’ve misspent almost £200,000.
Last season it took Eddie ages to discover the right positions for Bruno and Tonali to play together after Tonali returned from his ban.
This season our woes started on day one and Eddie still hasn’t fixed theme.
He favours high tempo high pressing game yet sanctioned the purchase of Woltemade and still hasn’t found a way to use him as effectively as the German national team do.
In most games we start well but inevitably run out of steam and can’t maintain the high tempo, yet Eddie persisted, even when we played two games per week for most of the season.
He has no plan B
We’re going to finish below several teams with much lower budgets. We don’t necessarily need an elite manager to improve just a different one. Think Carrick at Man U.
Recruitment must be near perfect this summer but were not nearly as attractive a destination as we were last summer and look what happened then,