Newcastle boss Eddie Howe admits he has a “bit of work to do” to clear his players’ minds of the scar tissue created by the midweek mauling in Barcelona.
Newcastle headed to Camp Nou with genuine hope of advancing to the Champions League quarter-finals following a 1-1 draw in the first leg. They held their own in an absorbing first half only to be blown away in the second as Barca cruised to a 7-2 win on the night.
There can be no time for self-pity with another huge match looming large on Sunday – the Tyne-Wear derby with arch-rivals Sunderland.
Howe said this morning: “We have a bit of work to do, psychologically, with the players. I think the players will have learned from a lot of similar games this season, bit of work to do today and tomorrow and we will be fine come kick-off.”
Sunderland won the reverse fixture in December thanks to Nick Woltemade’s own goal and Howe is aware of the importance of Sunday’s return.
“For our supporters, for the city, we know when the fixtures came out this was one that was in the mind of everybody,” he added. “We have to play for all of our people in this game, showing the passion with control and with quality and they will be key ingredients.
“You need a little bit of everything. Anger, passion, emotion, but you need to control it because too much of one can be a negative. This game is a great game off the back of what happened Wednesday as there’s no time to dwell on it too much. We can’t carry any baggage into this game.”
Newcastle have not beaten Sunderland in a league games since 2011.
“The focus for us is to try and win the game,” said Howe. “Looking back at past records and results won’t help us. Every game is different and the next one is so important. We have to recover physically and mentally and the players are in no doubt about the size of the game. That was only reinforced by what happened in the game earlier in the season.”
Sunderland’s early-season promise has fizzled out over the past few weeks with one win in six league games.
Relegation is not an issue and a win here would solidify the opinion it has been an excellent return to the top flight for the Wearsiders.
Team news for Newcastle v Sunderland
Newcastle will wait until the last minute to see if Sandro Tonali is fit after sustaining an injury at Barcelona. Bruno Guimaraes, Lewis Miley and Fabian Schar remain sidelined.
Sunderland have doubts over several key men, including Dan Ballard, Enzo Le Fee, Nordi Mukiele and goalkeeper Robin Roefs. Reinildo is expected to return at left-back.
