No excuses from beleaguered Bruce, who laments lack of threat

STEVE Bruce says Newcastle United can have no excuses after their abysmal effort against Sheffield United after failing to threaten the side rooted at the bottom of the table.

The Magpies went into the game on a bad run but now face Arsenal away and then Leeds at home, just weeks after losing 5-2 to the newly promoted Yorkshire club.

Bruce has told his team they must pose more of a threat than the two tame headers they could muster against the Blades.

Bruce, whose side are now winless in eight matches, said: “If you are in the bottom half of the league it is always going to be difficult.

“We have to be difficult to play against. I offer no excuse, but we must be more of a threat going forward.

“Whoever you are in the Premier League the pressure comes upon you. That is what we have to deal with.”

Bruce’s side opened with a five-man defence against the Blades, he insisted that with Ryan Fraser, Wilson and Sean Longstaff in an advanced playmaker role, he went into the game with attacking intentions.

He said: “We’ve been trying something different because over the last few weeks we’ve struggled going forward, so my thoughts were to get Ryan (Fraser), someone fresh, and Sean (Longstaff) higher up the pitch where he could be a goal threat. Unfortunately that didn’t happen.

“I think we’ve had, apart from the last month which we knew would be difficult with the run of fixtures we’ve had, we’ve given ourselves a decent start to the season.”