'Disappointed': Bruno Guimaraes steps up as captain to shoulder blame for Newcastle United'd defeat to Brighton

Part of a captain's duty is to face the flak for a poor performance, after all, when out on the pitch, it's their job to keep the players motivated and performing, but Bruno Guimaraes sat out most of Sunday's defeat to Brighton as he started the game on the bench for Newcastle United.

You can point fingers wherever you like to try and find someone to blame for Sunday's FA Cup crash. We're sure we know where most fingers will be pointing and it will be at the man who left the field on 83 minutes.

Anthony Gordon's red card was the cherry on top of the cake that was his poor performance. Gordon seems to be having almost a Kieran Trippier-esque case of a lapse in concentration.

While the red card came late in normal time and was soon followed by a red card for Brighton too, the incident itself isn't the reason most fans will be blaming Gordon for the defeat. He was practically invisible for the entire game up to that point anyway, and that's what is more frustrating than the red card.

Bruno Guimaraes is trying to deflect the blame from Anthony Gordon

Despite that, Bruno Guimaraes came out on social media and tried to soak up the blame himself, even though the Brazilian didn't come into the game until the hour mark, and to be fair, he steadied the ship somewhat as Brighton were dominating up until that point.

"Disappointed not to progress in the FA Cup, as it was clearly one of our goals. Moments like this are when we need to stick together the most. I know that when eliminations like this happen, it’s hard to accept, and we always look for someone to blame. If you need to find one, you can blame me.

"We have two weeks before one of the most important games for the club in recent years, and we must be ready for this great opportunity. My only request is that, in this moment, we stay united as one and go after the best for the club because we still have great things ahead."

We have to give respect where it's due, Bruno is stepping up as captain

We admire the sentiment behind the post, it's great that he's stepping up as captain to shoulder the responsibility, but fans will know that this one was far from his fault.

It obviously doesn't help anybody to point the fingers of blame, but fans will need someone to blame, that's the nature of the game.

What's done is done, though, we move on and we move on United!