Eddie Howe watched on as Anthony Gordon gave Newcastle United a tenth minute lead against Sunderland.
Without playing particularly well, United the better team in the first half and should have added at least another before the break as Sunderland offered very little.
Anthony Elanga went close on two occasions and with the keeper well beaten Sven Botman saw his header come back off the post.
A second half where United never really got going and when Brobbey kicked Botman in the face, requiring lengthy on the pitch treatment and then Thiaw replacing him, that incident seemed to stall Newcastle United altogether for the next quarter of an hour.
Aaron Ramsdale gifted the equaliser with a poor punch from a cross, then with the game drifting towards a draw, poor defending from United allowed Sunderland far too much space, Brobbey forcing the winner home.
Sunderland had scored two or more goals in only two of their last 20 games, in all competitions, so for Newcastle to concede a couple, summed up a below par performance.
Eddie Howe reflecting…: “Painful, tough afternoon for us. Positive start, I thought when we scored we would go on and dominate, but we never capitalised on that momentum. The first half fizzled out and second half we were second best. I didn’t like our performance. Technically we were poor. The defeat is harsh on us but we didn’t play well enough.”
Sunderland had played once in the 12 days ahead of this match Newcastle United three times in the same time period, including two massive Champions League games against Barcelona.
Today was United’s 51st of the season only game 35 for the Mackems.
Eddie Howe asked about the fixture pile-up and whether it played a part in the defeat: “I’m reluctant to use that as an excuse. Logic would tell you yes…but we have to do better. We have to really look at ourselves and make sure we learn from all the mistakes we have made and we made a few today. This has happened before, it isn’t a one off.”
With the scores level, Malick Thiaw seeing a headed goal disallowed, seemingly for Murphy in an offside position and deemed to be in the keeper’s line of sight.
Eddie Howe asked about that disallowed goal: “These are big momentum swingers for us. We wanted a second goal, we couldn’t find it. Sunderland grew into the game. We needed to defend with our lives and defend better than we did.”
A three week break now before United play their first of the remaining seven Premier League matches.
Eddie Howe asked what his message to the players will be: “We have some massive games to come. Week to week we are able to train and get that freshness back. We have had to learn a lot. It’s going to need a lot of character to respond. We never give up, we always go for what we can.”
Newcastle 1 Sunderland 2 – Sunday 22 March 2026 12pm
Match Stats
Goals:
Newcastle United:
Gordon 10
Sunderland:
Talbi 57, Brobbey 90
Possession was Newcastle 60% Sunderland 40%
Total shots were Newcastle 16 Sunderland 17
Shots on target were Newcastle 4 Sunderland 7
Corners were Newcastle 9 Sunderland 5
Touches in the opposition box Newcastle 22 Sunderland 29
Newcastle team v Sunderland:
Ramsdale, Trippier (Livramento 65), Botman (Thiaw 54), Burn, Hall, Ramsey, Joelinton, Woltemade (Willock 65), Elanga (Jacob Murphy 65), Gordon (Wissa 89), Barnes (Osula 76)
Unused subs:
Pope, Alex Murphy, Neave