WHAT ARE THE EXCUSES NOW?

Beating Newcastle after years of torment felt like poetic justice last December; the ridiculous remarks from them that we had no right to celebrate as we won via an own-goal, however, meant the winning feeling just wasn’t quite complete. Turning up to ‘The Region’s Capital’ in poor form, with almost all of our best players injured or un-fit and the home side in desperate need of a win, only to leave as the victors has firmly cemented Sunderland as the North-East’s superior football club once again. There can be no more excuses.

It’s a cliché that form goes out of the window for derbies but still holds true to a certain extent. Even looking back on the majority of our six-in-a-row victories, we went into the game in dreadful form, with the Mags almost always being significantly higher than us in the table. Even with that being said, however, we couldn’t have been in a worse position going into this game.

In our previous eight games (including our embarrassing cup exit to Port Vale) we’d only managed a single goal from open play, won twice and drawn once. Having struggled immensely to create chances, we were relying on our defence for getting us through games. With our first choice goalkeeper, right-back, left-back, centre-back and attacking midfielder all doubts (and the rest of them) therefore, we spent every day in the build-up to the derby pondering how we’d fare against the front three of Newcastle, who can be ferocious on their day.

Seeing the starting line-up and realising that Alderete was the only of the doubts to make the starting eleven made us all wince. As much as we all love Luke O’Nien for his infectious positivity and love for the club, he’s already managed to drop a few clangers in the few occasions he has featured, and you just never know when his antics could land us in trouble.

Lutsharel Geertruida started the season excellently but has struggled for minutes and been very inconsistent since the turn of the New Year. Trai Hume’s versatility has been pivotal throughout this season so far, but the lack of a natural left-back in the starting eleven meant we knew there’d be limited support for Talbi on the wing. Even Alderete has had some shaky moments over the past few months, and the thought of him starting in one of the biggest games of the season without the towering presence of Dan Ballard only added to the anxiety. Melker Ellborg has pulled off some great saves and decent performances since stepping in for Roefs, but it’s clear that he doesn’t yet have the composure and class that the Dutchman holds in abundance, which is exactly what you need in a derby.

That is without even mentioning Enzo Le Fée, who has been our most creative and probably consistent performer this season. Him managing to set up the second goal mere moments after entering the field is proof of that. Le Bris would have undoubtedly brought him on earlier if he thought his fitness could handle it, so it’s obvious that all he thought he could manage was the few minutes he got.

Whilst they could claim that they were without two of their best players in Bruno G and Sandro Tonali, who would have started in midfield if fit, their midfield three yesterday still cost them a staggering £154M, two and a half times what we paid for ours.

They also only had one notable unavailable player in their squad, Fabian Schar, who has been out with an ankle injury since January, meaning Eddie Howe had basically a full squad of players to choose from.

Whilst they could still argue that they were playing away in the Champions League in mid-week and it’s possible that some fatigue may have been carried over, it was Howe’s decision to only make three changes for the game, they had three full days between the two fixtures to recover, and (unlike ourselves) had the luxury of making three changes just after the hour mark, and another roughly ten minutes later. Due to literally half of our squad being injured or unfit, Le Bris was forced to stick with the eleven he’d picked for basically the entire game. Their tie with Barcelona was also over shortly after half-time, as opposed to them still having to fight to the very end.

We even gave them a head start, with O’Nien’s poor pass allowing Anthony Gordon to convert a chance which any professional forward would be able to, not to mention the general lack of cohesion evident from ourselves in the opening thirty minutes.

Our injury woes also saw Chris Rigg start on the right-wing, who they’d snubbed all week in the lead up to the game, stating how they had nothing to worry about defensively. How perfect, therefore, is it to see the ex-Mag-now-Mackem wonder kid play the full ninety minutes and be instrumental as we beat them on their own turf again.

Newcastle United, whose current playing squad has cost them over £625m, were turned over by a Sunderland side cobbled together with simply whoever was fit to play from a squad costing less than a third that. Having come from behind to win the game fair and square, with almost all of our best performers this season injured in their own backyard, one simply has to ask the richest club in the world, Carabao Cup Champions and alleged European giants, that they like to think of themselves as: what are the excuses now?