Don’t blame boss, says Allardyce

FORMER Newcastle boss Sam Allardyce feels the blame for the Magpies’ poor start to the season does not lie at the door of current manager Steve Bruce.

Bruce’s side were thrashed 5-0 by Leicester on Sunday, leaving United second bottom of the Premier League.

Isaac Hayden’s first-half red card didn’t help matters, but some fans are starting to point the finger at Bruce, with Newcastle lacking a clear system or style of play two months into the new season.

But Allardyce has leapt to Bruce’s defence, pointing to the fact Bruce has more points on the board at this stage of the season than Rafa Benitez did at the same stage last term.

“To blame Steve Bruce just yet is a long way off as he has only just arrived,” Allardyce told TalkSPORT.

“I think the problems don’t just lie in the team’s performance because at the end of the day they did get a man sent off.

“They go down to 10 men with a tackle that would have been perfectly legal in our day. He took the ball and, unfortunately, because he plays the ball his momentum carries him straight through the opposition player.

“It was reckless but I would like to know how you would do that tackle. But in the end it was down to how they capitulated. They were down to 10 men, yes, but they have got to give a better defensive performance.

“The 10 men should have just sat in there and saw the rest of the game out and, unfortunately, for Steve particularly because he will be sleeping pretty restlessly at the moment, and his lack of goals because Perez and Rondon were 50% of the goals last year.

“It is going to be a tough one up until Christmas but in saying that we have got to look at the situation and say he has got more points than Rafa got last year at this moment in time and I still don’t know why Steve is getting some stick.

“Rafa didn’t get any stick but Steve is getting stick and I just don’t know why but there you go.”