Bruce braced for a tide of criticism after ‘sloppy’ defeat
Newcastle United manager Steve Bruce expects a tide of criticism after witnessing a horror show in which his team were beaten 3-0 by Brighton at St James’park yesterday.
“We’ve been beaten badly at home, so we have to accept what’s coming,” he said.
“That’s the thing about playing for a big club. You can’t go up and down which, unfortunately in the 15, 16 months I’ve been here, that seems to happen.
“We’ve gone from having a really decent week where everybody is positive to throwing in a hand g renade like that, so we have to accept what’s coming.
“We have to accept that we weren’t good enough, we have to accept that we were sloppy in our defending and the way we started the game.”
A brilliant performance by Brighton’s teenage sensation Tariq Lamptey lit up St James’s, where Neil
Maupay’s double and a late third goal by Aaron Connolly clinched the points for the visitors.
Later, Dennis Pr aet’ s thunderbolt sealed Leicester’s comprehensive win over Burnley as the Foxes sent out a warning to their Premier League rivals.
The midfielder wrapped up a 4-2 victory at the King Power Stadium which left Leicester top of the early table on goal difference.
Harvey Barnes, Erik Pieters’ own goal and James Justin helped proved the hosts are over last season’ s disappointment of missing out on the Champions League on the final day.
Chris Wood’s opener for Burnley briefly threatened to derail Brendan Rodgers’ side and although Jimmy Dunne pulled a goal back, the Foxes were comfortable winners.