Bruce defies critics to keep Newcastle afloat
Pragmatic tactics are not pretty but deliver points, writes Luke Edwards at St James’ Park
It is no longer possible to determine what is real and what is not at Newcastle United, what is fact and what is fiction, to know whether to praise manager Steve Bruce and the players, or to scream they are not good enough. When you sit through a performance as bad as theirs in the 0-0 draw against Norwich City on Saturday, the team who are bottom of the league, at home, it is depressing. Grim to watch, impossible to enjoy.
When you can barely string a few passes together, when you cannot create more than a couple of chances, that your flaky front line miss because there is not a clinical finisher among them, and when you would have lost had it not been for the brilliance of your goalkeeper, it can seem like you are hallucinating when you see the league table.
But nothing has been slipped into the water supply on Tyneside. Newcastle are seven points clear of the drop zone and moved into the top half of the table after gaining this point. They are a team who defy logic, but they are also defying those who want them to fail and there are lots of them, even on Tyneside, who want Bruce to do just that.
Yet “hopeless Bruce”, “clueless Bruce”, “dinosaur Bruce”, the man who took over three weeks before the start of the season, after Rafael Benitez had refused a new contract, with no new signings made, both of last season’s top scorers gone and the club in complete disarray, has managed to beat Chelsea, Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur, as well as sixth-placed Sheffield
United away. He has also drawn with Wolves away and Manchester City at home. Newcastle have lost only three games at St James’ Park all season and have never lost their determination, discipline or heart.
When Newcastle won last season, it was because of Benitez, despite the players he had. When they win now, it is because of the players, despite the manager. Now that really does defy logic.
It has not been pretty, far from it. At times it has been so ugly you have wanted to avert your gaze, but you cannot stop staring, wide-eyed and confused.
They are not classically good looking, chiselled chins, high cheekbones and sparkling white teeth, but they are rugged and scarred and have a spirit and work ethic. They have a force of personality.
All of these things should be applauded and, in normal circumstances, a manager with the results Bruce has achieved this season, with the number of points gained, would not face the criticism he does.
It is true, Newcastle have not played well for weeks. They were awful against Oxford United in the FA Cup and the 2-2 draw with Everton, scoring twice in the final minute of stoppage time, made no sense. It is one of the great unsolved mysteries of our time.
But they keep doing it; they keep getting results and they are staying out of relegation trouble. When something keeps happening it is not luck, when defenders have scored 50 per cent of your league goals, does it matter?
When your defence works so well and your goalkeeper makes important saves, that is not an accident.
Newcastle are not blessed and they are not relying on witchcraft. They are the definition of pragmatism, doing what they can, recognising their limitations and trying to cover their weaknesses.
They are making the best of things with an excellent goalkeeper in Martin Dubravka, solid defenders, no creative midfielders, one fit centre-forward in Joelinton, who has scored two goals in 28 games, and the pace of Miguel Almiron and Allan Saintmaximin. This is what they have, this is what they do.
Norwich played the better football, they even looked like they had better players on the day, but they did not win. That is why they are going down and Newcastle, in spite of everything, are not.
If a good manager is one who gets the best results with the players he has, what does that say about the job Bruce has done up to this point? As Benitez once said during his time at Liverpool, there are opinions and there are facts.
The fact is Newcastle looked like the 10th-best team in the country on Saturday night, despite everything you had witnessed that afternoon.