Plenty of Newcastle fans have been left enraged by a comment from Steve Bruce, as he appeared to absolve himself of any blame for the decisive goal in Saturday’s defeat to Everton.
The Magpies have been impressive at home this campaign, but Bruce was outclassed and outthought by Carlo Ancelotti on Saturday afternoon.
After a first-half that went back and forth with the Toffees ruling the first 25 minutes and the hosts dominating before the break, Fabian Schar levelled things up from a set piece after Dominic Calvert-Lewin had put Everton in front.
An injury to Joelinton changed the game though, as Bruce seemed to revert to the sole tactic of launching long balls towards Andy Carroll after the Brazilian went off.
Everton then capitalised on some high pressing from the hosts as Calvert-Lewin made it 2-1, which Bruce appears to have blamed on the crowd.
Per Mark Douglas, the boss said: “The players responded to the crowd and we were punished for it.”
The comment places some of the blame on a frustrated crowd and perhaps some on the players for responding to it as well, but none on the gaffer himself.
Check out some of the best Twitter reactions down below…
Remember Pardew saying the exact same thing… 🤢🤢
— Daryn (@DeeCeeGee89) December 28, 2019
otherwise known as ‘the pardew defence’…
— ed_bell (@edjbell) December 28, 2019
Dear me.
Not only is this a line Pardew previously used, is he blaming a full house and positive atmosphere the reason for losing?
— Lee (@leerobson23) December 28, 2019
A Pardew-esque excuse. Embarrassing
— Lewis (@lewyakers) December 28, 2019
Haha pardew and mcclaren type comment shambles
— AdamMacdonald (@AdamMacdonald8) December 28, 2019
Hahahahaha joke and fan still defend this monkey
— Lew (@GhostxGamingz) December 28, 2019
