Sunderland, Brobbey stick the knife in as Eddie Howe’s Newcastle position becomes untenable | OneFootball

Brian Brobbey was Sunderland’s latest derby hero as Eddie Howe’s position as Newcastle United head coach became untenable after an embarrassing week for him and the club.

It hasn’t been Newcastle’s week. It hasn’t been Newcastle’s season. Sunday was certainly not Newcastle’s day.

Sunderland have done the double over Newcastle having been promoted last season, ending an eight-year hiatus from the top flight. In that time, the Black Cats have spent four years in League One and experienced heartbreak after heartbreak; Newcastle were bought by trillionaires from Saudi Arabia, who have injected hundreds of millions of pounds into the club.

Doing the double over Newcastle as a newly-promoted team sums up this incredible Sunderland season, but the more significant record is an 11-game unbeaten derby run in the Premier League for the latter, whose most recent top-flight defeat to the Magpies came back in 2011.

Back in December, Sunderland wanted it more and won 1-0 – a scoreline which flattered Newcastle on an embarrassing day.

That felt like a nadir for the Magpies and Howe, but an already miserable week has now ended with the worst result possible.

Losing to Sunderland is simply the worst thing that could happen in the life of a Newcastle United fan.

Supporters will be feeling very emotional, so many will be screaming for Howe to go, but even from the outside looking in, his number looks up.

Having won the Carabao Cup last season and qualified for the Champions League twice, some may argue he has enough credit in the bank to stay until the end of the season, giving him a fair crack at qualifying for the Europa League or Europa Conference League.

We’re not convinced.

The Tyne-Wear derby started so well too. Anthony Gordon gave Newcastle the lead after 10 minutes thanks to a terrible Luke O’Nien error.

At that point, Newcastle should have pushed on and put their rivals to the sword. After all, Sunderland were missing so many key players, including Robin Roefs, Nordi Mukiele and Dan Ballard. And on paper, the hosts have the better team. They were in the last 16 of the Champions League, while Sunderland were promoted last year.

But football, as we all know, is not played on paper and just like in December, Sunderland wanted it so, so much more. That is more important than talent in a derby at this level.

The fact Sunderland have some very good players helps as well, believe it or not. Sunday afternoon’s victory doesn’t just emphasise Regis Le Bris’ tactical superiority and Sunderland’s desire to win, but also the clubs’ contrasting summer transfer windows as new boys Brian Brobbey and Chemsdine Talbi scored to turn things around at St James’ Park.

Newcastle’s summer was an unadulterated disaster as Alexander Isak left and Nick Woltemade and Yoane Wissa were signed as replacements for over £120million combined.

Woltemade was signed to be the focal point up top, but as he has been in recent weeks, he was completely wasted in midfield. Wissa, meanwhile, was only called upon in injury time, after William Osula.

Their summer window really set them up for the season they’ve endured and, while some could argue Howe has been let down, he still spent £255m on new players. Only Chelsea and a record-breaking Liverpool spent more.

Spending that money and having some excellent players at your disposal makes so many things unacceptable.

Newcastle are below Sunderland in the Premier League table with seven games left. They are 12th, with more defeats (13) than wins (12). They have a negative goal difference. They were just dumped out of Europe after a 7-2 second-leg – not aggregate – defeat. And they are out of both domestic cup competitions. The best thing that could possibly come out of this season is now Europa League qualification.

Howe has given so much to the cause, but that is not how elite sport works. It’s ruthless, and he has missed so many opportunities to turn things around and get things truly up and running in a dismal campaign. We are now at the true nadir for Newcastle after Sunderland completed the double over them.

Change is needed and there’s no coming back from this week or this gut-wrenching defeat.

Changing the manager would write off a season that has essentially been written off already. Howe’s position has become untenable.