Many Newcastle United supporters have been reacting on social media to a brutal assessment of the Toon’s start to the season under Steve Bruce, offered by the Daily Mail’s Craig Hope.
Hope claimed that ‘the stench of relegation’ now surrounds St. James’ Park, after the Magpies were held to a goalless draw at home to Brighton & Hove Albion on Saturday, in a game the hosts were the ones outplayed and looked to be searching for their identity.
Bruce made a commitment upon his appointment in the summer to play an entertaining and attacking brand of football following on from Rafa Benitez’s tenure, but claimed after the Seagulls draw that he knows why his side played a certain way under the Spaniard (Chronicle).
The former Sunderland head coach also suggested Newcastle will struggle if they tried to play on the front foot and ‘get after teams’, having allowed Brighton to enjoy 71% of possession at the weekend as the side playing on the road.
Bruce’s search for a way to blend Benitez’s tactics with his own saw the current Toon boss try three formations on Saturday, and Hope now questions if the 58-year-old has a clear idea over how he can get the most from the players at his disposal.
The Daily Mail writer also pointed out that Newcastle have made the fewest touches in the opponent’s area with 76, fewest passes in the final third with 419 and hold the lowest average possession at 33 per cent of all 20 Premier League sides.
WhoScored note that Newcastle have actually averaged 37.7% of possession this season, which is 4.3% less than Burnley and 22.2% down on possession table-toppers Manchester City.
However, Bruce was able to call on Andy Carroll for the first time on Saturday and saw Allan Saint-Maximin make his return from injury, which Hope suggests will give the Magpies head coach reason to believe he is not in an impossible job.
Here are some of the reactions shared from Newcastle fans to Hope’s brutal assessment of the Magpies, the Premier League’s least attacking side…
Looking reminiscent of the McLaren debacle.
— Marc Wailes (@MarcWailes) September 23, 2019
1 point a game? Relegation stuff that. Also we have had 3 games against those around us and not won any.
— Simon Wilson (@scurrilusrumour) September 23, 2019
Ashley quickly lost the enthusiasm he showed when signing up Joelinton…. he hasn’t been seen since!
Was it just front to show Bruce that everyone was wrong about him? Has Bruce woken up yet?
— Graham Watson (@GrahamW87907976) September 23, 2019
He needs to leave. Hopefully after that 10 games he asked for, when we are in the relegation zone he will resign.
— Alan (@alanjewels) September 23, 2019
Bruce inherited the 2nd best side outside the Big 6 in the last 30 PL games.
We’d won 5 of our last 7 home games scoring 2+ in 6 out of 7 of them under Rafa.
Yet Brucie says it’s RAFA’s fault that we’ve now only won 1 in 7 games.
&
it’s RAFA’s fault that we’re now not scoring pic.twitter.com/SZImA5Uo9H— Rafa Facts (@FactsRafa) September 23, 2019
We had 68% possession & 27 shots when we played Brighton at home last season under Rafa Benitez.
We had to have a negative approach against Brighton yesterday though because of Rafa according to Bruce😂 pic.twitter.com/UVbUofFBv4
— Rafa Facts (@FactsRafa) September 23, 2019
If you don’t learn from your history the same mistakes are going to happen…….this has got Schteve Mc Claren written all over it.
— Gary Orr (@Garyorr12) September 23, 2019
Ridiculous appointment
— John Ryan (@RyanerJohn) September 23, 2019
Well, we never seen this coming did we.
— Steven Edgar (@StevenEdgar) September 23, 2019
Newcastle utd is like watching a car crash in slow motion,it’s devastating.
— MSW (@Toonattics) September 23, 2019
