"For 90 minutes on Friday night at Old Trafford and for an hour today I saw some real progress and what I wanted from the players,'' he said after the game at The Stadium of Light.
"I told them in life you get moments and memories so do it today.
"With the utmost respect to Newcastle, I feel we beat ourselves. We gifted them goals and I felt for our fans.
"I wanted to give them some pride, but we have made it worse. I thought we moved the ball well at times but at times made the wrong decision.
"It's a shame we lost 4-1 but I think the scoreline was a bit flattering to Newcastle. But the job is to put the ball in the back of the net and they have done that."