NUFC players ‘concerned’ by one thing Bruce did before Leicester 5-0 Newcastle – Report

According to the Daily Mail’s Craig Hope, several Newcastle players were concerned by Steve Bruce’s decision to change formation once again before Saturday’s trip to Leicester City.

The North-East reporter reveals that many players felt they were ‘settled’ with a three-man defence – a system that had been used by both Benitez and Bruce – however the latter appeared to make a late change after Jetro Willems was ruled out with a knee injury.

As a result, Hope claims that Jamaal Lascelles will make Bruce aware of the players concerns in a meeting this week.

It’s time they got their heads together and sorted this mess out, but would this have ever happened under Rafa Benitez? No chance.

You can see why Bruce opted for a back four, with injury issues at left wing-back and both Dummett and Krafth having plenty experience of playing at full-back, but it’s quite alarming that he has now toyed with as many formations in 7 games as Rafa Benitez did in three and a half years. It stinks of a manager who doesn’t trust what he’s doing and lacks a definitive plan.

If he doesn’t quite know what he’s doing or what he’s trying to achieve, how do we expect the players to look organised and raring to go?

Bruce’s shortcomings don’t justify the total lack of effort and fight on display at Leicester – the player were nowhere near good enough and let us down – but it seems clear that our squad don’t quite know what’s expected of them.

(Fancy writing for us? Get in touch at [email protected] & we’ll get back to you!)

About Olly Hawkins

As a Junior Magpie since birth and season ticket holder, I eat, sleep and breathe all things NUFC! Here at the blog, I aim to bring you news, views, match reports and transfer exclusives as and when I get them.

5 thoughts on “NUFC players ‘concerned’ by one thing Bruce did before Leicester 5-0 Newcastle – Report

  1. The changes are down to injuries to key players. He’s not tinkering for the sake of it. I’m pretty sure if he had all players available to him in the 7 games so far, we would have seen that consistency.

    Regardless of formation, players have to close opponents down. They have to put in tackles and work hard – I can’t say I saw any of them doing much of that.

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  2. What a load of ****, The players where concerned but no actual quotes from the players.

    Maybe it would be better if an actual interesting article was published which isn’t full of ‘Nothingness’ and grabbing at straws.

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  3. Bruce comes across as a very humble man ,and he has much to be humble about.
    Fulsome apologies after ignoble defeats just will not do-he needs to have tactics and the last two games suggest the players are unaware of any. Totally uninspiring.. and it has reached his players.

    ….and the contrast between two teams reduced to ten men by a send off could not be more marked. Tottenham down to 10 men played their hearts out against Southampton, Newcastle completely gave up…remind me how much these players are earning each week.

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