Stat comparisons
POPULARITY CONTEST ADDS TO BRUCE’S TOUGH TASK
IT may not feel like it right now, but Newcastle United find themselves in significantly better shape in the Premier League than they were at the same stage last season. There were pockets of boos following the 1-1 draw against Wolverhampton Wanderers and social media was a toxic place on Sunday night, but compared to this time 12 months ago, the Magpies are six points better off and have two more wins on the board. After the game, Steve Bruce suggested that his team had been conditioned to defending for too long under Rafa Benitez. It wasn’t a slight at the former Toon boss per se, but if Newcastle are going to haul themselves League table that sees just six away from another relegation points separating sixth-placed scrap, they are going to have to Crystal Palace and fourth bottom learn how to kill games off under United.
Bruce. However, it could be here Bruce said: “We forgot to take that the favourable comparisons part in the second half. We said we to last year become wanted to win the second half as tougher to make for well. Bruce and his players. “The second half it was that horrible cliché of a game of two halves With no win if ever there was one.” on the board In the end, a 1-1 draw wasn’t going into deemed the worst result in the November in world as Newcastle finished 2018, Benitez the game with 10 men after stayed calm Sean Longstaff’s red card, and insisted he and if any team looked would be able to like they were going to turn things snatch the game, it around in the top was Wolves. flight. So nine points And he did exactly that from 10 games thanks to a superb November in keeps Newcastle which he won manager of the out of the month after wins over bottom three Watford, AFC Bournemouth and in a congested Burnley. Premier United’s next three this time around are against West Ham (a)
The clash against Wolves was a game of two halves, says Bruce
on Saturday, then a home clash with the Cherries, followed by a Monday night clash at Aston Villa after the international break. That series of wins helped the Magpies climb to 13th place in the Premier League before they staved off the threat of relegation during a long, hard winter.
It was a feat Benitez won praise for, but will Bruce be afforded the same amount of plaudits if he does the same? Bruce is well aware of the fact some observers see him as unfashionable compared to Benitez. Going into November, he finds himself getting on with a tough job as well as a bizarre popularity contest.
Steve Bruce
Behind the scenes, Bruce is trying to break the cycle of the blackand-whites battling against relegation.
Benitez did manage 10th place in 2018 but it came after a long scrap of a season and just two years after the club tasted relegation.
The year before that, Newcastle staved off the drop on the final day against West Ham.
Bruce made the same point in his post-match Press conference on Sunday, saying: “For the last couple of years, I don’t think it’s been any different, has it, since the club came out of the Championship?
“And probably the couple of years before that too.
“We hope we can go on a run of a few results that will take us up the table.
“If you look at the Premier League at the minute, I think two or three points separates 11 teams.
“I always classed ourselves as one of those 10 or 11 teams.
“Our aim is to go higher, of course, but I was under no illusion that it was going to be difficult because it has been for the last couple of years.”
I was under no illusion that it was going to be difficult because it has been for the last couple of years