Howe experienced his most difficult afternoon as Newcastle boss as his side crashed to their second derby loss of the season despite taking an early lead when Anthony Gordon fired home.
Second-half goals from Chemsdine Talbi and Brian Brobbey turned things around for Sunderland, with Howe and his players being booed by Newcastle’s supporters as they walked around the St James’ Park pitch after the final whistle.
“It’s very, very painful,” said Howe, who also saw his side crash out of the Champions League when they suffered their heaviest-ever European defeat on Wednesday night. “Most of all, painful for our supporters, they’re the ones I think about now.
“I’ve got very little to use as an excuse, and I don’t want to go down that road, I never have. Once you haven’t performed, and you know the size of the game and don’t deliver, you expect to be criticised and you understand why.
“So, I understand the reaction at the end of the game. We haven’t done our jobs well enough today and we’re desperately disappointed in ourselves. I think we have to absorb it, and the only thing we can do is try to come back stronger from it.”
Sunderland’s supporters were singing that Howe was “getting sacked in the morning” as they celebrated during the second half. That will not happen, but the Magpies boss finds himself subjected to a much higher degree of criticism from within his own fanbase than he has previously experienced throughout his Tyneside tenure.
When Newcastle lost at home to Brentford at the start of last month, Howe was forced to defend his position and spell out his determination to remain in charge. Less than two months on, and he found himself having to make similarly defiant comments.
“I’m fully committed to the job,” said Howe. “I’m disappointed in my delivery today and my delivery in the last week. The Barcelona game was very tough and today is even tougher.
“As I said after the Brentford game, I always absorb that blame myself. I don’t look to deflect it anywhere else and I certainly won’t deflect it to my players. I’ll defend my players to my last breath. I think that’s how I look at it. It’s going to be a tough and painful few days for me.”
Immediately after the game, a number of Newcastle fans took to social media to question whether Howe and his players understand the magnitude of the derby.
Sunderland’s remarkable recent derby record certainly suggests those in red-and-white have a much better grasp of what you need to win a derby, but Howe rejected the suggestion that he and his players underestimated the importance of the occasion.
“I can only speak from my side, but since I’ve been here, we certainly understand,” he said. “There’s no issue with that in terms of the size and importance of the fixture, and the preparation for the fixture.
“I can assure you that was all taken as seriously as any game we’ve had this season. We pride ourselves on doing that. We understand we haven’t delivered in the two games. I take full accountability for that and absorb all the criticism.”
Howe did, however, concede that his side’s defending for both of Sunderland’s goals had left a lot to be desired. Aaron Ramsdale should have been lot stronger in the build-up to the Black Cats’ opener, while Tino Livramento stood and watched as Brobbey had two bites of the cherry in order to the score his winner.
“I think whenever you concede goals, it’s unacceptable,” said Howe. “From my side, no one means to make a mistake or not make a tackle. No one means to not defend well in that moment.
“The lads know the size of the game what’s at stake. They’re trying their best, I can assure everybody of that but we haven’t got certain things right. They were two very poor goals to concede, both in the last actions and the bits before.
“That’s not been a one-off for us. We’ve defended poorly for a long time, certainly since the turn of the year, and we’re aware of that. All we can do is return for the first time to the training pitch to try to rectify some of the errors.”