Bruce keeps his options open up front
MAGPIES CLOSE TO BREAKING LOWEST GOAL TALLY RECORD
IT may be 22 years since Kenny Dal- glish decided to dismantle the Entertainers team which had been enthusiastically put together by Kevin Keegan, Sir John
Hall and Freddy Shepherd, but Steve Bruce became the latest Toon boss to be asked if he could somehow reach the same heights as the team from the 1990s this week.
Ironically, Bruce was one of the men tasked with halting Keegan’s team as Manchester United went head to head with the Magpies before it all ended in tears as a 12-point lead disintegrated in front of our very eyes in 1996.
Let’s get this right, Newcastle fans are not demanding a top-four team these days and that is not really the reason for their unrest. As the club’s supporters have said many times, they “don’t demand a team which wins, they demand a club which tries” and after Rafa Benitez’s contract agonisingly drained down to its final days, with the former Real Madrid manager citing lack of ambition for his exit, many of the stay-away fans don’t feel those efforts have been made.
Mike Ashley and Lee Charnley may well point to the record breaking £40million addition of Joelinton in the summer but for all that the black-and-whites go into this weekend’s clash in the bottom three.
A large section of fans have voted with their feet, 6,000 or so not turning out for home games with Brighton and Watford. If anything, the current Newcastle team are the polar opposite to Keegan’s Entertainers.
Failure to score against Wolves would mean five goals from 10 opening games is the lowest tally at this stage of the season in the club’s 127-year history.
Bruce said: “The swashbuckling team of the 90s was a wonderfully gifted team.
“You have to have certain individuals to play that way.
“I don’t think we are quite at that just yet. “It might be the aim of course and you have to aim that high.
“They were a great side and a great one to watch but I don’t think we can return to that shortly, that is for sure.” Bruce’s side do have attacking outlets in Allan Saint-Maximin and Miguel Almiron but
They were a great side and a great one to watch but I don’t think we can return to that shortly, that is for sure Steve Bruce
neither player has managed to get off the mark in terms of goals this season.
Then there is the barren run of Joelinton, a player whom Bruce stated this week must start “chipping in” with goals soon.
Bruce has faith in all three, and said: “We have played five of the top sides.
“Defensively we are better but we need to improve up front now with more goals.
“Joe, Allan and little Almiron need time to settle and develop.
“It takes a little bit of time to adjust.
“Joe will be a fine player for this club, I am convinced. of that”
The reality is Newcastle sit in the bottom three of the Premier League and are a world away from the dizzy heights of the European places that were expected in the 1990s.
Bruce added: “Nobody wants to be in the bottom three but I was always aware the start would be difficult.
“Three points separate 10 or 11 teams, so let’s hope we can get a victory this weekend and start pushing ourselves up the table. We are quietly confident we can do it.”