I actually put money on a Toon win over the weekend, such was my confidence, but I watched the game with utter dismay.
Prior to the game Sky Sports showed that we have the least amount of possession of any team in the entire league and, once again, I watched us only enjoy 29% against a poor Brighton side.
This was an embarrassing watch. I expected us to come out of the blocks, but we never came out of the tunnel and were camped in our half for the entire first half.
We’ve played Watford, Norwich and Brighton, all relegation fodder and picked up 2 points. Not only that, we’ve scored once at St James’ Park against three sides who’ve struggled badly for clean sheets so far this season. Smell the coffee Steve, something needs to change.
I don’t blame Mike Ashley for this result. On paper our squad was good enough, but those in Black and White were an embarrassment to themselves, the club and supporters on Saturday. Maybe they had no idea what Bruce was asking from them, but the likes of Jonjo Shelvey had their head down and looked disinterested, with us lacking organisation, quality, discipline or leadership for large parts.
The players seem to like Bruce, but can the manager genuinely motivate? Is he a good tactician? Is he really a Premier League manager? The answers feel like no to all as things stand.
The attendance was barely over 43,000 -the lowest since 2010 – and after this I can see the sub 40,000 looming.
With 5 points from 6 games and Leicester (A), Man United (H) and Chelsea (A) our next 3, how many points can we realistically get from these fixtures?
After 9 games, realistically we will be in the bottom three – again!
As for the positives – I didn’t see any.
