I can assure you that my assessment of Sousa is 100% separated from my feelings about the way that Pearson left the club. I felt that he was a miserable bugger who pissed off because he couldn't get all his own way; he was bound to go at some time and he went.
Pearson did however have some idea of how to use each players ability to best advantage rather than trying to expect individuals to do things they were not capable of. Players playing their own way are less likely to make the simple mistakes that we have seen so many of this season, particularly in defence. If a player's mind is too much concentrated on how he is going to dispose of the ball, it might well affect his ability to take possession of it in the first place.
As for the black eye, I didn't notice it during the game but it was certainly there afterwards. It seemed to me that it was not a new injury so I can only presume that it wasn't noticed during the game either because you are not likely to see such a close-up at that time or because my mind was on other things.