'They're not a very good team' - Anthony Gordon says Newcastle United are better than Sunderland despite derby defeat

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Newcastle United may have suffered a 2-1 defeat to their Tyne-Wear rivals Sunderland, but Anthony Gordon believes The Magpies are still the better side. Eddie Howe's team are now 12th in the Premier League, seven points off the top five after a mixed March. Gordon scored against The Black Cats. However, goals from Chemsdine Talbi and Brian Brobbey saw the visitors secure all three points.

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Anthony Gordon believes that Sunderland are ”not a very good team” despite their 2-1 victory against his Newcastle United side at St James’ Park on Sunday.

The England international scored the opening goal in the Tyne-Wear derby, but Chemsdine Talbi equalised before Brian Brobbey’s dramatic 90th-minute winner sent the away fans into raptures.

The win means The Black Cats have done the double over their bitter rivals in the Premier League this season and sees them leapfrog The Magpies into 11th place in the table.

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Gordon insists that Newcastle are the better side despite the defeat.

"The frustrating thing is, in my opinion, they're not a very good team compared to us," he told his club’s media. ”We shouldn't lose to them.

"Away is obviously more difficult because they have the fans, the atmosphere and a bit more pressure, but at home we should not lose that game.

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"Not with the first half that we had, but again we haven't been good enough starting second halves, and it's an ongoing problem.

”I think the way we lost the game, going ahead one-nil, I thought they were really poor.”

Newcastle are 12th in the Premier League table, comfortably clear of the relegation zone but seven points off the top five.

The Magpies have now failed to beat their Tyne-Wear rivals in 11 league meetings in a row, with their last victory coming in August 2011.

Newcastle have had a mixed March, beating Chelsea and Manchester United, but losing 8-3 on aggregate against Barcelona in the UEFA Champions League, having also been beaten 3-1 by Manchester City.

Gordon admits that the second-half performance against Sunderland was not good enough.

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"It was not good enough really, no excuses," he said.

"We were good for 45 minutes, which has been the case too often this season - we actually knew going into the game and had been trying to work on it.

"A not good enough start to the second half and they were the better team second half.

"I think we had chances, some good play, in the first half but I don't think we showed our quality.

"They were doing a man-for-man press, with two players marking me, so we always had a spare man and we never found them, using that advantage.

"That's how you become a top team and we're not at that level yet because it's such an easy thing to do in football and we couldn't do it."

Newcastle’s next match will see them go head-to-head with Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park on April 12.

Gordon believes Newcastle will try to bounce back, even if the pain of a derby defeat is hard to get over.

"Football's always like that," he added.

”The most important thing, always, is the next game.

”It's been a relentless run of fixtures, but that's going to take a long time to get over for us and the fans because nothing can resurrect that.

"We've got to try our best and win as many games as possible, get up the table and into one of the European competitions."

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