Calum Mills says…
Battling Brobbey!
He was unbelievable and unplayable.
He was being pulled from pillar to post by Dan Burn, but he held firm — winning headers, second balls and running down the channel when required.
A proper number nine, and his movement for that second goal was top notch and after we’ve struggled in front of goal in recent weeks, his return and derby-winning goal was more than welcome!
Chris Rigg and Habib Diarra catch the eye
Played out of position and up against Lewis Hall, I thought Rigg was excellent.
His link up play with Habib Diarra was great and he
also tracked back to support Lutsharel Geertruida. You can also see that he’s desperate to score his first Lads Premier League goal as well — which I hope happens before the end of the season!
As for Diarra, that was up there with one of his best games.
Direct when running with the ball and tenacious off it, he’s come in for some stick in recent weeks but in such a high-profile game, he showed his worth and it was summed up for me when he lost it just inside their half but tracked back and won it outside our box.
Hopefully this is the first of many more quality performances!
Melker Ellborg struggles
I know he’s new to Sunderland and to this league, but my God, he scares you.
He’s been closed down two or three times in his short Lads career and every time he pushes the ball to the side before clearing it, I wince.
He’s got to be quicker with his feet…but WE BEAT THE MAGS AGAIN!!!!
A game tainted by alleged racist abuse
Absolutely zero time for anything like this, with Romaine Mundle and now Lutsharel Geertruida being subjected to it.
It’s abhorrent and hopefully the culprits are found out, banned from attending future games and jailed.
John Wilson says…
Red and white resolve
What absolute resolve and determination.
Backs to the wall at times, you could feel the tension and nerves through the TV. The injuries and the team we had to put out — if we’re honest — left many a little deflated and hoping against hope.
After Luke O’Nien’s error, it looked even more difficult, but not to worry. To a man, we stood up to be counted.
At the end, with the victory secured, O’Nien broke into tears such was his relief and dedication to this club. A great team effort, showing guts and heart.
Brian Brobbey stands tall
He was our outlet; he gave their defence a major headache all afternoon and he deservedly got his goal after a calm, cool assist from Enzo Le Fée.
So pleased for the guy — whose nightmares from the past have been buried and is thriving for us.
Sunderland’s goalkeeping troubles
Nobody likes to single anyone out — especially as Melker Ellborg is young, will grow in stature and experience — but he’s been thrown in at the deep end due to Robin Roefs’ injury and in truth, he isn’t quite ready.
His kicking is very suspect and his lack of height and power in the box puts the defence under pressure.
It’ll come good, but he gave me the jitters every time.
The ugly side of football rears its head again
You’d think enough had been said on this subject.
Idiots should try to curb what kind of language comes out of their mouths. It’s not like there aren’t plenty of other expletives that can be used, and I hope the culprits are identified.
The police seemed to get it wrong as they escorted the Lads fans to the ground, where fighting broke out.
The clips I’ve seen seem to show comparatively little presence. For the home game, the visitors all arrived by coach, so why were the same arrangements not made?
Lars Knutsen says…
Sunderland go ‘til the end once again
This team never knows when it’s beaten.
Despite a discouraging start, we gradually worked our way back into the game, and were much less tense in the second half.
Once we scored from Granit Xhaka’s corner, I knew we wouldn’t lose this match. We clearly missed the seven players who are absent through injury but the team spirit lives on though despite these absences — and this performance was another tactical feather in Régis Le Bris’ hat.
Two away goals!
This hadn’t happened since we won at Chelsea in October.
Both goals were based on tenacity, but also skill. To have the coolness to put together such productive moves away at our arch-rivals was remarkable. OK, we could see that the barcodes were tiring, but they were both excellent goals.
I loved the dangerous ball in from Trai Hume for the first, and Enzo Le Fée showed his class by squaring for Brian Brobbey to claim the winner.
Rigg comes of age
At eighteen years old, Rigg was thrown into the cauldron known as St. James’ Park for this attritional derby.
He gave a really good account of himself, and contributed to several of our twenty four shots on goal. He’ll remember this day for the rest of his life — in the team on merit and performing excellently.
An iffy Sunderland start
Ten minutes in, we made a clear mistake at the back and the ball fell to Anthony Gordon, who slotted it home.
On the upside, both Melker Ellborg and Luke O’Nien recovered well to perform well for the rest of the game. The bad start affected us for the first half hour; the press wasn’t intense enough and our passing wasn’t incisive enough.
Once Chemsdine Talbi had come close to a spectacular finish into the top corner, it heralded a much better game from the Lads and in the end, we were deserved winners.
Mark Wood says…
A superb comeback victory!
Our second half performance summed up what this Sunderland team has been all about this season.
Only Aston Villa have won more points than us from losing positions and once Chemsdine Talbi equalised, I felt we were knocking on the door all the way ‘til the end.
Noah Sadiki’s shot was an inch from a deflection and could’ve gone in, whilst Brian Brobbey’s winner was nothing less than we deserved and Newcastle — it has to be said — had nothing to offer in the second half.
“…And he’s Sunderland’s number nine!”
Brian Bobbey terrorised the home rearguard all afternoon.
He didn’t let them settle, competing for every ball that went up to him and turning and leaving them in his tracks — and it was apt that he scored the winning goal to crown a performance which was as good as I’ve seen from him all season.
After his return from injury, he looks back to his best.
A massively important victory
After our recent results looked like they were tapering off in the second half of the season, I wasn’t confident of getting much before the game — and that confidence shrank even more after our disastrous opening.
But with echoes of Peter Reid’s consecutive 1-2 wins at St James’ Park, we dug deep and added yet another famous win.
They’ve been waiting ten years to put us in our rightful place as they see it after our ‘six in a row’. Well, guys, we’re back…and they still haven’t managed to put us down!
An eventful afternoon for Luke O’Nien
I thought we were in for a long and painful day after his attempted pass out from the back led to Newcastle’s opener, but I’m not going to moan about it — just put it to bed and move on.
He’ll know himself and he doesn’t need any extra noise to remind him about it. It’s to say after the game went in our favour and it didn’t actually effect the outcome in the end, but irrespective of how the game turned out — win, lose or draw — I would’ve said the same.
Honestly!
