Sissoko dissects Toon loss and states: "We'll be ready for Arsenal"

Taking on media duties post-match, Moussa Sissoko was able to quickly summarise what went wrong as we suffered a 1-0 loss at home to Newcastle in the Premier League on Sunday.

The midfielder told us beforehand how much this game against his former club meant to him personally but a week after the positivity of fighting for a point against the tide at champions City, the tables were turned by the Toon.

Steve Bruce’s men soaked up pressure from the off, took the lead on 27 minutes and protected it for another 70. Lucas went close twice, Heung-Min Son tested Martin Dubravka and Harry Kane had appeals for a penalty turned down via a VAR review, but we didn’t do enough with 80% possession.

“What went wrong?” he was asked by a Norwegian TV crew. “We lost, and we’re all disappointed,” Moussa responded.

“What went wrong? We conceded a goal where we should do better, and we had a few chances we should score but we didn’t do it. We had the possession and we dominated the game, but it wasn’t enough to get the three points. Now we need to move on and be ready for next week.”

We pointed out to Moussa that everything seemed in place after last week’s draw at City – a good week’s training, the sun was out, the fans packed into our new stadium, but it wasn’t to be...

“That’s football, sometimes these things happen, not that it makes it any easier,” he said. “We have to move on, move forward and be ready for next week.

“Everyone is disappointed with the result. After the draw against City we wanted to win and go forward. With the loss it’s a stop, but it’s still the beginning of the season and there are plenty of games to come.

“Now we have an exciting game next week and we have no time to think too much about this game, just analyse what was wrong and try to be better next week to win against Arsenal.”

Yes, the derby. We travel to the Emirates on Sunday (4.30pm) aiming to recover on the biggest stage.

Moussa added: “Look, when you lose one game, especially at home, you have to react straight away. That’s what good teams do and hopefully we can do it next week.

“It’s going to be a tough game, a massive game, everyone is waiting for it - the fans, the Club, the players. Derbies are always exciting. We’ll be ready, hopefully we’ll win and take three points before the international break.”