Former Liverpool player Don Hutchison has said that Newcastle are “dying a slow death” under Steve Bruce and that he has to start playing exciting football.
In a Twitter message directed at Bruce on Monday morning, Hutchsion said, “S B. This is the 1 and only time your gonna manage your boyhood club. If you fail you might as well fail by playing exciting football that the fans wanna see. Imagine failing by playing boring defensive footy. Keegan will always be the messiah because of what he tried to do.”
https://twitter.com/donhutch4/status/1178597973250527233
He followed that up by saying, “It’s your one and only chance man. Have a go by playing balls out attacking football. Newcastle are dying a slow death at the mo.”
https://twitter.com/donhutch4/status/1178598951248912385
Bruce surrendering at Newcastle
Newcastle lost 5-0 to Leicester on Sunday, which left them one off the bottom in the Championship.
Newcastle only had 31% of possession and just three shots, none on target [SofaScore]. However, they were hampered in this game after Isaac Hayden was sent off for a dangerous tackle in the first half.
Much worse was the 0-0 draw against Brighton at St James’ Park in the previous game. Brighton had 72% of possession in that game, which is a pretty shocking stat for Newcastle at home.
Newcastle only had 25% of possession in the 3-1 defeat to Liverpool and 48% against bottom side Watford at St James’ Park.
Newcastle have won one game this season but only had 20% of the ball in the 1-0 win against Tottenham.
Bruce said that Newcastle could be in for a “long and difficult” season after the 5-0 drubbing and that looks set to be the case for a team that’s only scored four goals in seven games. Only Watford, rooted at the bottom of the table, have scored as few goals this season.
For fans, there’s nothing worse than getting relegated after playing boring football and, so far, Bruce’s reign is as far from the glories of the cavalier Keegan era as is possible to imagine. If Bruce opens up and lets his Newcastle side play on the front foot, they may well face a few more thumpings, and they might still get relegated, but fans would appreciate a side that gave it a go.