Emil Krafth has spoken highly of Steve Bruce during his time away on international duty with Sweden, describing him as a ‘good coach and good person’.
The right-back – who completed a £5m move from Amiens last month – has also revealed how the new Newcastle head coach is ‘easy to talk to’ and ‘jokes a lot’, insisting that his first impressions have been good.
Here’s what the 25-year-old told Swedish outlet Aftonbladet when speaking about Steve Bruce:
“I heard all the talk about what happened but I was not here last season.
“I can only speak about how things are now.
“I think he [Bruce] is a good coach and a good person too.
“He is easy to talk to and he jokes a lot.
“I haven’t known him for so long, but my first impression is good.”
This is promising to hear.
Some may not want to hear it, with many still struggling to get their heads around the fact we replaced Benitez with Bruce, but there is a growing feeling that we should judge our new ‘head coach’ on what he does now at Newcastle – and not his past failings.
As for Krafth, I’ve been quietly impressed by him so far. He seems tough enough to cut it in English football and, despite a baptism of fire in that dreadful away defeat at Norwich, he’s come in and done a solid job against Spurs, Leicester and Watford, helping us concede just 2 goals across those 2 games.
He looked limited going forward and more of a right-back than a wing-back, but he looks solid defensively and hasn’t been beaten easily.
