Key events
“Is it just me who thinks the shirt colours are far too similar?” asks Dave Glass. No it’s not, Dave. Here’s Euan Lawson.
I am colourblind – just like one in 12 men and one in 200 women. It adds up to a whole lot of people. The red stripes look dark to me and the only way I can tell the difference between the two teams is by looking at shorts/socks. It is horrible and almost unwatchable. The FA does have guidance on this. I understand the classic colours of a Tyne-Wear derby are iconic but the contrast is so poor that I suspect even those with normal colour vision are struggling today. What were they thinking?
Half-time entertainment. Better times for Sunderland can be found within.
HALF TIME: Sunderland 0-1 Newcastle United
Newcastle have been utterly dominant, and this scoreline is the very least they deserve. Sunderland haven’t threatened Martin Dubravka’s goal at all.
45 min +3: Joelinton’s really unhappy, still, but at least he’s not injured. He’s up and about and chuntering on at the assistant referee, on account of having to stand on the sidelines for 30 seconds.
45 min +2: Joelinton goes down holding his right leg. Play is stopped. He’s not happy, having been shoved in the back by Rusyn. Has he strained something while landing awkwardly?
45 min +1: The first of three added first-half minutes passes without incident.
45 min: A ball swung into the Sunderland box from the left by Guimaraes. Almiron meets it on the right-hand edge of the six-yard box, and swivels a volley across Patterson and inches wide of the bottom-left corner. He didn’t quite catch that properly, but it so nearly bobbled in anyway. Had it been on target, the keeper was never getting there.
44 min: Gordon has an opportunity to release Isak down the middle but his pass is intercepted by the wily Ballard. He’s been magnificent so far, the fairly major caveat of the own goal notwithstanding.
43 min: Another dangerous run by Gordon down the left. He’s beginning to cause Sunderland an awful lot of trouble. The visitors probing for a second, and probably decisive, goal before the break.
41 min: Trippier swings the free kick into a crowded box. Ballard gets above Burn, no mean feat, to eyebrow the ball out for a corner. Trippier loops that one in too, but Isak can’t meet the ball, six yards out, and Sunderland clear their lines.
39 min: Gordon drops a shoulder to get past Hume on the left. Hume sticks out a cynical leg to stop him. Into the book he goes. Having been left behind by Joelinton for the goal, it’s been a difficult few minutes for the Sunderland right-back. A free kick in a dangerous position.
37 min: Poor Ballard looks absolutely wrecked. He’s been Sunderland’s best player so far, too. When it all comes down, he’ll realise he had no option but to roll the dice; if he hadn’t tried to clear, Isak would have scored anyway. But he’ll be feeling the sting right now. In any case, on the balance of play, the lead is deserved.
GOAL! Sunderland 0-1 Newcastle United (Ballard 35 og)
Newcastle come again, and break the deadlock. Joelinton bursts into space down the left and whips a low cross into the six-yard box. Isak is waiting to tap home. Ballard has to make some sort of intervention, and sticks out a leg, only to shin the ball at speed into the bottom right. Newcastle lead the derby!
34 min: Burn releases Gordon down the left with a lovely precision pass. Gordon cuts back for Longstaff, who blooters wildly over the bar. Another big miss, but no matter for Newcastle, because …
32 min: VAR would have taken two days to rock and roll the footage of that incident. Ballard had a little handful of Isak’s shirt, sure, but the striker went down awfully easily. With more determination, he’d have surely been able to gain the yard required to take a shot. It seemed a fair shoulder-to-shoulder bout.
30 min: Almiron strips Clarke in the middle of the park, and suddenly Newcastle are on the break. The ball’s shuttled forward for Isak, who looks like breaking clear on goal … only for Ballard to stick to his right shoulder with grim determination. Both grapple, both go over on the edge of the box. The ball’s gathered by Patterson. Newcastle want a penalty, but the referee waves play on. That looked like six and half a dozen. No VAR. Yes!
29 min: Schar tries to release Almiron with a long 1980s-style punt forward. Easy meat for Patterson. Sunderland will be happy to see Newcastle resort to this.
27 min: Ekwah looks for Bellingham with a speculative ball down the inside-right channel. Not quite. But this is better from Sunderland, who haven’t been under the cosh exactly, but have certainly been second best.
26 min: Sunderland haven’t spent much time in Newcastle’s half. They attempt to rectify that by press, press, pressing, and slowly nudge the action upfield. They’re never in control of the ball, but bitty action in the other half is a baby step forward.
24 min: Trippier attempts to release Almiron down the inside-right channel with a slide-rule pass, but Ballard gets across to usher the ball out of play for a goal kick. That’s fine defending. Most of Newcastle’s attacks are coming down this flank.
22 min: Alese and Longstaff clatter into each other in the middle of the park at warp speed. No quarter given. No complaints, either, as the pair get up and acknowledge each other’s hard-but-fair game. Play goes on, and Longstaff pops up again, this time in the Sunderland box, flicking a low Trippier cross wide and high from close range. That was a big chance.
20 min: Guimaraes cuts into the Sunderland box from the right and aims a low curler goalwards. The ball clanks Ballard in the chest. Newcastle claim a penalty, but they’re not getting one. The ball may have hit Ballard’s arm, perhaps, but it was folded across the front of his chest. No pen, and the ref agrees. We play on. No VAR! Yes sir!
19 min: Now Gordon goes down dramatically, having been tripped by Hume. Again, just a free kick, but Sunderland are putting down a couple of markers here.
17 min: Clarke catches Botman late as the defender high-kicks a loose ball upfield. Botman rolls around a lot. The referee stops the game to check the big man is OK. No VAR today, which is nice. A garden-variety free kick, nothing more.
16 min: Sunderland are struggling to keep hold of the ball, and get out of their own half. Newcastle are dominating both in terms of possession and territory.
14 min: Trippier takes a big run-up and does indeed have a pelt for goal. It’s way too ambitious a distance, though, and his effort deflects through the wall and trundles into the arms of Patterson.
13 min: Joelinton is flipped into the air by Bellingham, 30 yards out in a central position. Probably too far out for Trippier to go direct … but we’ll see.
12 min: Almiron plays a cute ball down the right in the hope of releasing Trippier, who attempts to cross only to be blocked by Ballard. A no-nonsense block and another strong challenge that’s very much appreciated by the home fans.
11 min: This game is, you’ll be unsurprised to learn, being played at 101mph. Both sets of supporters are serenading each other in the keys of F and Jeff.
9 min: Ekwah, playmaking from deep, attempts to release Clarke down the left with a raking diagonal pass. Too strong; goal kick. But full marks for ambition.
7 min: There’s a pause in play. Craig Pawson’s wireless link to his linesfolk is jiggered. Some new kit is fetched. We play on. “Mix of excitement and fear here,” writes John Davis. “Father in law is a Sunderland fan, have a feeling this match might decide which way my six year old goes. Stuck in a school hall for a birthday party following on my phone. The things we do for children.”
5 min: Pritchard and Hume take turns to go into tackles hard. Both are fair, and the crowd love them. What. An. Atmosphere.
3 min: Newcastle fair flew out of the blocks there. Sunderland’s young side need some respite, and they get it as Rusyn tears down the right to gain some ground. He wins a throw and the hosts can take their first breather of the afternoon.
2 min: Newcastle quickly snatch possession of the ball and Trippier wins a corner down the right. Bellingham heads clear, but Trippier swings a cross in again from his wing. Patterson fingertips away nervously, but does enough. Just. And then a third Trippier delivery from the right! Longstaff flicks goalwards from close range but straight at Patterson, who blocks. What a start by Newcastle this is!
Sunderland get the ball rolling. “Do I have to watch it?” asks Newcastle fan Richard Slassor. “I feel sick again after all of these years not having to think about our neighbours down the road. I must remind myself: it’s only football, you’re 60 man.”
The teams are out! Things you don’t need to be told:
1. Sunderland wear their red and white stripes
2. Newcastle sport their black and white stripes
3. There is one heck of an anticipatory roar rumbling around the Stadium of Light right now
What an atmosphere! Well, it is the first Tyne-Wear derby since 2016 after all. It’s a crack, they’re back.
Michael Beale, who has experience of the odd local skirmish in Glasgow, speaks to ITV. “It’s special … it’s special to both cities … it’s special to people in the north-east … for the FA Cup and the third round it’s fantastic to have this game back after so long … it’s two different teams … one has been heavily invested … one is a young team doing well in the Championship … so there’s a great background story in the game … you can see everyone’s looking forward to it … it’s an opportunity to be taken … they’ll get feedback from the game … it’s Newcastle’s strongest midfield so what an opportunity for them to go up against them … certainly a derby at home you can’t get a better opportunity than that … we need to play our style … we’re a football team and we play on the floor … a lot of combination play … we need to be strong defensively and show some respect as well … we’ve had clean sheets which has been a step forward but this is a bigger challenge than that.”
Our pre-match postbag is teeming with an email. Chris Paraskevas has written it. “When it comes to the Tyne-Wear derby, literally anything is possible,” he begins. “I’m talking about events that really make you question reality: grown men punching horses, Kevin Nolan netting hat-tricks, Albert Luque actually scoring a goal (yes, it happened!). This is definitely a time for cool heads as far as the players are concerned. Passion, desire and grit are wonderful buzzwords but will only get you so far: can you keep your cool and pick the right pass at the crucial moment? Can you keep your emotions in check in the heat of battle? One thing’s for sure: our opponent’s aren’t going to roll out the black-and-white carpet and stick up big signs welcoming us.”
Eddie Howe speaks to ITV. “It’s a huge game for us, for lots of different reasons … it’s the FA Cup [which] we want to do well in … our recent run of form is not at the level we want it to be … and of course we’re playing our local rivals … it’s a huge one … we’ve got a lot of local players within the squad who know what the fixture means … if you’re in Newcastle for any length of time you come to realise the magnitude of this game … whenever [Kieran Trippier] is on the pitch I feel we’re a slightly different team … we have to focus on the principles of our game … we have to be at the highest level today … we have to keep 11 men on the pitch … we know it’s a really important moment in our season.”
Pre-match reading. Allow Louise Taylor and Barry Glendenning to set the scene.
Sunderland are in If It Ain’t Broke mode. Following the 2-0 Championship win over Preston North End, Michael Beale names the same starting XI.
Newcastle boss Eddie Howe responds to the 4-2 Premier League defeat at Liverpool by making two changes. Miguel Almirón and captain Kieran Trippier return, displacing Tino Livramento and Lewis Miley, who drop to the bench.
The teams
Sunderland: Patterson, Hume, O’Nien, Ballard, Alese, Ekwah, Neil, Pritchard, Bellingham, Clarke, Rusyn.
Subs: Pembele, Semedo, Burstow, Ba, Aouchiche, Seelt, Triantis, Bishop, Rigg.
Newcastle United: Dubravka, Trippier, Schar, Botman, Burn, Longstaff, Bruno Guimaraes, Joelinton, Almiron, Isak, Gordon.
Subs: Dummett, Lascelles, Ritchie, Krafth, Karius, Hall, Livramento, Parkinson, Miley.
Referee: Craig Pawson (South Yorkshire).
Preamble
Haway/Howay† the Lads! † delete according to preference
On the face of it, this should be fairly easy to predict: it’s a match between a Championship team who have only recently replaced their manager after a series of disappointing results, and the richest club in the world. However, nothing’s ever that simple, is it? Let’s see.
1. It’s the third round of the FA Cup.
2. Sunderland have won two of their last three under new manager Michael Beale.
3. Newcastle have lost seven of their last eight if you include a penalty-shoot-out defeat snatched from the jaws of victory in the League Cup, which we do.
4. Newcastle haven’t tasted victory over Sunderland since August 2011, since when the Black Cats have beaten them six times in nine attempts.
So no, nothing’s ever that simple. The singular pressure of the Tyne-Wear derby applies to both sides, but it’s Newcastle who have to deal with the expectation that comes with being the Premier League favourites, and the extraneous noise regarding Eddie Howe’s current struggles won’t help. It’s almost perfectly poised for the neutral, who can kick back and enjoy the show; the denizens of the Stadium of Light and the travelling Toon army may however be a tad less relaxed ahead of the first big north-east derby in seven years. Kick off is at 12.45pm GMT. It’s on!
