Newcastle United deservedly lost the Tyne-Wear derby on Sunday after once again failing to show up in the second half of the game. A trait that has plagued the season.
In truth, Newcastle should have converted their first-half dominance into something more substantial than a frail one-goal lead as the Magpies seemed to be content to see out the game with just Anthony Gordon’s early goal for protection.
Once again, Eddie Howe delivered a trademark demotivational half-time team talk, and Newcastle came out for the second half wearing metaphorical slippers and pyjamas while Sunderland reappeared completely reinvigorated.
Inevitably, the visitors won the second half and managed to score twice, once at the start of the half and once right at the end and thus Geordie weekends were completely ruined.
However, it could have been a different story if referee Anthony Taylor and VAR had been in a different mood as Anthony Gordon saw a penalty appeal waved away by the ref with his decision backed up by VAR, and then Malick Thiaw had a goal chalked off that would have restored Newcastle’s lead when Jacob Murphy was ruled to be offside and interfering with goalkeeper Melker Ellborg’s ability to save the effort.
Both incidents were reviewed on Sky Sports’ Ref Watch segment with former Premier League referee Dermot Gallagher labelling the Gordon incident as ‘unfortunate’ but the correct decision.
“I think so [no penalty], I don’t think Hume does anything wrong. He has his foot planted and doesn’t make a challenge. Anthony Gordon actually invades his space.
“It’s unfortunate, it’s almost like Gordon catches Hume rather than the other way around.”
He also sided with Anthony Taylor on ruling out Malick Thiaw’s goal, insisting Jacob Murphy was interfering with play from an offside position.
“It’s a great spot because [Murphy] is interfering with the goalkeeper, he’s actually making physical contact with him, impacts his ability to save the ball and is in his line of vision – not a goal.”
These are the types of incidents that would probably have gone the other way if we were on the opposite side of them, such has been our luck with officials this season, but in truth, we do agree that both were the right call.
Newcastle shouldn’t have needed the referee’s intervention to win the game. Everyone should have been fired up enough to take the game to Sunderland and win without penalty decisions and VAR calls, and they weren’t; it’s that simple.
It stinks that we have three weeks to sit in this feeling before we play another game. Hopefully, the rage will fade over time. Let’s hope the international break gives us something else to talk about because it’s going to be a draining three weeks if this negativity is all we have to focus on.