See, I told you. Carver is clueless in how to manage any game, let alone a thrilling derby like this. Team came out gutless, sitting back and allowing a pathetic (sorry mate, but Sunderland are) side to attack at will. Sure, we have injury problems, but you know what? If we had a real coach who had this team playing on the front foot...well, it would have been a game, at least.
As it was, I'm not upset at the loss. Hard to be, really, when I was already accepting of a loss before the first ball was kicked. I gave us almost no chance in this match, and I was, unsurprisingly, correct. You lot should be able to avoid relegation now.
The only thing that really upset me about the game was the little punk, little bitch Gomez. He earned 3 yellow cards, really, two for gross simulation. He flopped on the ground more than a fish out of water. The first was bad enough--a few fingers on his chest and he falls the wrong direction for the momentum, shaking like an epilepsy patient. The second was inexcusable--he pretended to be stomped on the foot and went down like he was shot, when the replay shows Sissokho's foot was inches away from his and he was never touched.
Then again, I felt Perez should have gotten a yellow for simulation late on too. He lost the ball in the penalty area and noticed a player lashing out close to him, so he simply went down like he was shot, trying to earn the penalty. Pathetic, really, from the young man. Should have been booked for that.
Otherwise, lots of yellows, all of them fully earned on both sides. Sunderland's coach sent them out to win, Newcastle's 'coach' sent them out to not lose. This was the clear difference.