Guimaraes: Newcastle were 'a mess' in 'tough to accept' Sunderland loss
Newcastle United suffered a narrow derby defeat to Sunderland, with a frustrated Bruno Guimaraes slamming their underwhelming performance.
Bruno Guimaraes branded Newcastle United's performance against Sunderland in the Tyne-Wear derby loss "a mess".
The two rivals met for the first time in the Premier League since March 2016 on Sunday, with Nick Woltemade's second-half own goal securing Sunderland a 1-0 win.
The match had the fewest shots (11) and the lowest expected goals (xG) total (0.54) of any Premier League match this season. Indeed, the 11 shots were the fewest in a single game in the competition since March 2023 (Aston Villa v Crystal Palace).
Newcastle were responsible for six of those, getting only two of them on target, and they are now winless in their last 10 league matches against Sunderland (D3 L7).
After suffering a sixth league loss of the season to leave the Magpies in 12th, Guimaraes was left to rue the disappointing outing.
"It's a tough one to accept for me," he said. "I'm very frustrated.
"One of those weeks, we were very excited at the training ground, but we came here and didn't perform the way we can perform.
"So frustrated, and it makes me feel angry about our performance today. We were not there. No shooting the ball, no crossing the ball, no passing. We should have demanded the ball more.
"I think we just accepted the way they will play, long balls, win the duels. In derbies, we have to win the duels.
"It's so frustrating for me to come here today, but the fans are right [to criticise] because it's a tough one to accept.
"We had a great opportunity to go in front of them, and we just missed it. For me, it's so frustrating."
Guimaraes was responsible for both of Newcastle’s shots on target, despite only contributing 0.08 xG to the overall total of 0.24.
Asked if this was his most painful defeat since he joined the club, he responded: "Definitely, yes. It's not just as a defeat, more the way we play."
