Bruce keen to steer Magpies clear of trouble
Newcastle head coach Steve Bruce has vowed to “circle the wagons” after another difficult week on Tyneside as he attempts to drag the club out of relegation trouble.
The Magpies face a trip to fellow strugglers West Brom today, with the 60-year-old having been thrust firmly into the limelight after a trainingground row with midfielder Matt Ritchie came while he is dealing with an injury crisis.
Bruce’s men sit just three points clear of the drop zone after winning only two of their last 15 league games, and he is calling for a united
front if they are to ease their woes at the Hawthorns.
He said: “When you’re up against that, you always believe you can circle the wagons. I’ve got complete faith in the players and I’m sure they have in me, and we will do our utmost to get out of the trouble we’re in.”
Victory for the Magpies could prove hugely significant, although Bruce insists the contest is not a must-win affair.
He said: “Is it a must-win? We would like to win. I don’t think you can put it as a must-win. Look, we have to remain focused and get on with the job in hand, which is now West Brom. Can we go there and get a result?”
That may be easier said than done, however, without the injured trio of Callum Wilson, Allan Saint-maximin and Miguel Almiron, who have contributed 16 of the club’s 27 league goals so far this season. He added: “I have every confidence in the players that are going to fill the roles of those three. We’ve got enough in the squad to cope.”
Ainsley Maitland-niles insists West Brom still have belief they can beat the drop and stressed the importance of staying united.
“Our main ambition is to survive,” he said. “No matter what we have to do to get there, we are willing to do it.
“We have to work as a unit and work together to give ourselves the best possible opportunity. That’s the main thing. We can’t do it as 11 individuals on the pitch.
“We need to fight harder than the other teams.”
Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp insists they will never give up on the Premier League, even if the Champions League offers them a better option to extend their run in Europe’s top club competition.
A haul of just 12 points from the last 39 available has seen the Reds’ title defence end with barely a whimper and has left the players fighting for a top-four finish.
Winning the Champions League would offer a route back into the elite tournament, but there is still a long way to go on that front even though they hold a 2-0 lead heading into next week’s last-16 second leg against RB Leipzig. But Klopp said he would not allow Europe to take their focus off the domestic front.
“We play Fulham and three days later we play Leipzig,” he said. “I can’t think about winning the Champions League.
“This week we play these three games, late in the season, with two days in between, Thursday, Sunday and Wednesday, it’s tough.
“We see who we can field on Sunday and then who can play on Wednesday, but it is not that we gave up on the Premier League, that will never happen.
“There is no game we can play and lose and people say, ‘Ah... look at the line-up’. Liverpool is too big, too many people are interested. We feel the responsibility that in each game we have to give our absolute everything to win it. If that doesn’t happen, then people will think, ‘ That’s not enough’. We don’t change our attitude.”
Fulham manager Scott Parker is in disbelief that the new handball rule had not been in place since the start of the season.
Football’s lawmakers announced on Friday that accidental handball that leads to a team-mate scoring a goal or having a goal-scoring opportunity will no longer be considered an offence from July 1.
“How that rule has not been set in stone at the start of the season is beyond me,” said Parker.
“If your arms are beside your body, and you can’t physically put them anywhere else other than chop them off, it needs to stand really.
“It’s just common sense, logic.”