Not a winger, not a prayer

NEWCASTLE United can only hope incoming coach Graeme Jones arrives with a plan to keep them in the Premier League.

For on the evidence of this 10th straight match without victory, Steve Bruce does not have one. It would appear he does not have his players, either.

They could not have looked less interested in bailing out their under-fire boss at Villa Park.

I t wa s another change of formation, 5-3-2 this time. Another change of personnel, four from the side beaten at Arsenal. But everything else remained the same. No spark, no desire, no idea.

Bruce vowed to do it ‘his way’ last week. The one constant since his declaration of independence is the pairing of Callum Wilson and Andy Carroll in attack.

Yet in both matches since Bruce’s reboot he has, incredibly, played without wingers. Wilson and Carroll, to no one’s surprise, have looked isolated and infuriated. And what must Wilson be thinking? He turned down a move to Villa in the summer. How he would love to have Jack Grealish and Ross Barkley as his supply line.

Newcastle can do passive — if not passing — like no other team. They are weak in mind and body. Pundits t alk about t hem being set up defensively but they only look so because they cannot attack.

The club’s answer to all of this, it would appear, is to hire Bournemouth coach Jones, who is set to join Bruce’s backroom team this week. He better have some damn good ideas.