Many Newcastle supporters have been left bemused by the latest comments from Steve Bruce suggesting that the Magpies need time to adapt to the recent changes that have been made to the style and setup.
Newcastle are in a precarious position at the wrong end of the Premier League table following a run of eight defeats in their last 10 top-flight matches, with a comfortable nine-point cushion over Fulham in 18th swiftly reduced to just three points. Scott Parker’s team are in the ascendancy in terms of recent form and some pundits are now tipping the Magpies for the drop.
The arrival of Graeme Jones onto the coaching staff has seen a shift in the way the Magpies have set up and approached matches over the last few weeks. A more adventurous formation has been used, with more focus on pressing from the front rather than being passive as they had been throughout most of the first half of the season.
However, Newcastle have just the wins against Everton and Southampton to show for their new approach so far, while they have also lost three times since the shift in focus. Bruce had previously talked about the Magpies being a work in progress with his previous tactics, and that now looks to have been abandoned after 18 months of trying.
Speaking to Chronicle Live (and shared via their Twitter channel), Bruce has insisted that the Magpies now need more time for the latest approach to pay off, also stating that he had left the players in their comfort zone not changing things beforehand.
He said: “We’ve made changes, and changed the way we’ve gone about things – that is obviously going to take a bit of time. For a long time, I didn’t change it. I left them in their comfort zone, so it’s the way I want to do.”
Newcastle fans rage at Bruce’s comments
Many Newcastle fans were left infuriated by Bruce’s latest comments, with one Geordie calling them “deluded, contradictory rubbish”, and suggested that they were perplexed as to why a manager would not do things his way for around 18 months.
