New low for 'pathetic' Newcastle - as Sunderland in dreamland

St James’ Park, once bouncing after Anthony Gordon’s ninth-minute opener, descended into a cauldron of boos as Brian Brobbey’s 90th-minute strike sealed a 2-1 Sunderland victory and a first league double over their neighbours since 2014-15. The turnaround, completed by Chemsdine Talbi’s equaliser, extends Newcastle’s winless derby run to 16 league meetings and leaves Eddie Howe’s side 12th on 42 points, four outside a potential Conference League berth.

The defeat compounds a week that began with a 7-2 Champions League humiliation by Barcelona and ended with discriminatory abuse reported towards Sunderland’s Lutsharel Geertruida, crowd trouble outside the ground and the visitors’ coach pelted with bottles. “It is a very, very painful result,” Howe admitted. “I understand the criticism; we have not done our jobs in the second half.”

Newcastle have now dropped 22 points from winning positions this season; add those to their tally and they would sit second on 64, six behind leaders Arsenal. Instead, continental football in 2026-27 is in jeopardy after successive group-stage exits. “We haven’t fixed the mental lapse,” Gordon said. “The stadium gets shaky when we’re ahead.”

For Sunderland, promoted via last season’s play-offs, the scene was dreamlike. “To win twice against a Champions League side means a lot,” manager Regis le Bris said after Brobbey’s late strike sparked delirium in the away end. A pre-match banner taunted “Welcome to the region’s capital – you’ve been gone so long!”; by full-time the travelling faithful were celebrating a landmark double.

Club legend Alan Shearer labelled the hosts’ second-half display “pathetic, weak, lazy, limp,” while Jamie Carragher noted: “Newcastle just cannot beat Sunderland.” With 13 league defeats already, Howe must regroup during a rare lull in a campaign that has seen Newcastle play more fixtures than any other top-five-league side in Europe.

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