Bruce says Leicester loss not fair, bemoans errors (again) & praises “frustrated” NUFC star

Steve Bruce believes that we ‘didn’t deserve to lose’ against Leicester today, claiming costly mistakes were the reason we slumped to our fourth defeat in six matches.

The Foxes looked in control at 2-0 up, but they had to stave off a late Newcastle fight back as Andy Carroll grabbed his first goal since returning to the club – on his 33rd appearance.

The gaffer admitted after the game that the cameo from a “frustrated” Carroll has given him “food for thought” moving forward, but has bemoaned errors made in the build up to both goals – something that’s becoming a tedious trend in his post-match press conferences!

Here is what Bruce said to Sky in his post-match interview about the game itself, Carroll’s impact and our difficult run of games:

“I didn’t think we deserved to lose.

“It’s the one thing we have to learn, we keep getting caught on the counter. The thing we want to do, we keep getting caught the other way.”

“We’ve given the ball away cheaply on both occasions and Leicester have punished us.

“The one thing you don’t want to be doing during our best spell of play is give the ball away, they’ve broken on us and before we know it we’re 1-0 down.

“That bit of quality, keeping the ball in the right areas, is something we have to work on and improve on.

“I couldn’t fault their effort and endeavour – it was just that little bit of quality we lacked.

“I have to think even though we’ve taken one point from a really tough week – Man City, Liverpool and Leicester – it was always going to be tough.”

“Thankfully we’re getting a few back from the illness and injury problems we’ve had. In that respect it’s been difficult but I can’t fault their effort and attitude.

“They’ve been terrific all week.“

“Andy Carroll’s was a great finish.

“He brought us to life, we went a bit more direct and into him with balls into the box and he’s got on the end of one.

“He’s given me food for thought. It’s good to see him fit and staying well.

“I’m delighted for him.

“He’s been a bit frustrated because he hasn’t been in the team but he’s come on and reminded us what he can do.

“It was a great finish.

“He gave us something else up front which is always good to have.”

Leicester will feel happy to have come here and ground out an away win against a Toon side that blundered their biggest moments of the game.

We had spells to score goals but once again shot ourselves in the foot, being caught on the break for their first and failing to track their runners for the second.

At the other end, we put the ball into the danger area numerous times but didn’t have anybody there on the end of the cross to notch home, with great balls from Yedlin, Shelvey and Matty all being wasted.

While Bruce may feel as though the scoreline is unjust, the best he could have hoped for was a draw. If anybody deserved to win that game it was Leicester – not us.

We held our own in patches against one of the league’s best sides but there is still a lot to improve upon, such as our abysmal decision making in the final third.

As for Andy Carroll, it’s something to build on but one goal after 33 games is hardly justification to give him a run in the starting lineup. He is fighting for his future on Tyneside and while I am happy for him that he finally scored a goal, it will take a few more to convince me.

Follow us on Twitter (@NUFCBlogcouk) and on Facebook HERE