History repeated itself on Wearside where Sam Allardyce became the fourth successive Sunderland manager to preside over a victory against Newcastle United in his second game in charge. Considering it is almost eight years since he was sacked, harshly in his opinion, by the St James’ Park board and that Sunderland had not previously won a Premier League game this season, it proved a particularly satisfying triumph.
The home side’s sixth straight win against their north-east neighbours was also highly controversial and left Steve McClaren, Newcastle’s manager, critical of the referee, Robert Madley, hinting that he lacked the necessary experience to officiate in a game of this magnitude.
Facilitated by Fabricio Coloccini’s hotly debated dismissal for a “last man” challenge on Steven Fletcher and Adam Johnson’s conversion of the similarly questionable penalty that resulted, McClaren’s comments further fuelled an already intense debate about Madley’s performance.
“I think we’ve taken full advantage of a piece of good fortune,” said a beaming Allardyce. “I thought it was a foul because, if he hadn’t made contact with him, Steven Fletcher would have scored. It was on his left foot, his best side. It’s a bit harsh sending Coloccini off, but sadly that’s the rules.
“I’m the fourth manager here to beat our local rivals in their second game. I find that a bizarre statistic – but it’s very nice to have kept the run going and make it six in a row against Newcastle.
“It was a huge three points. The pressure on us was enormous. It’s taken us far too long to get our first league win under our belt but hopefully we can pick up from here on in.”
Sunderland’s manager was in such a good mood that he even had sympathy for Coloccini. “I thought it was a penalty,” he said. “But the unfortunate thing is sending him off. Is it really a sending off? Because of the rules, if it’s a goalscoring opportunity, you have to send him off, but for me, the penalty is enough. What we all want is 11 v 11 not 10 v 11. I know it’s gone in our favour today but I thought the penalty was enough and you don’t have to send him off.”
McClaren’s demeanour was rather less relaxed. “I don’t think frustrated is the word,” he said. “Angry, disappointed. Two decisions have cost us a game in which we were totally dominant.
“It was almost the perfect first-half performance of a derby game, my teams have never controlled one so much and we should have had a penalty [following an incident involving Georginio Wijnaldum and Lee Cattermole] then 30 seconds after that they get a penalty which was wrong and unbelievable.”
It is clear he is no fan of Madley. “The referee’s wrong,” said McClaren. “You can control your performance but you can’t control the referee and that’s happened today. I’ve seen a lot of challenges like Coloccini’s go unpunished in every game – and it wasn’t an obvious goalscoring opportunity.”
Asked if Madley had been naive, McClaren sensed an open goal. “For me the referee got two decisions wrong,” he said. “But we need an experienced referee for this game. I think in both incidents he was too quick to make the decision.”
After agreeing he had rarely been more furious, McClaren said he had never seen Coloccini angrier either. “The game has gone from control to catastrophe,” he lamented. “Sunderland got flattered today. They couldn’t get the ball. I’ve never seen a team in a derby as much in control as we were. But we dust ourselves down and move on.”
