Loads of Newcastle United fans have been reacting on social media after the Daily Mail’s Craig Hope shared that he fears players are getting worse, not better under Steve Bruce.
Hope offered his thoughts following Sunday’s 4-0 thrashing away to Arsenal, which was the second-heaviest defeat of Bruce’s Toon tenure having been humiliated by Leicester City in September when beaten 5-0 at the King Power Stadium.
Bruce came out after the weekend’s loss claiming he was disappointed by the performance seen in North London, particularly in the second half, and suggested the display was not that of his Magpies side.
“We’ve played well enough in the first half. We’ve got to try and make sure we get to those levels,” said the boss, per quotes by the Chronicle. “We never got anywhere near that in the second half and that is the disappointing thing for me.
“The goals we’ve given away aren’t us. The reason we’ve had a little bit of success is that resilience to defend and play against teams like we have done. We haven’t done enough.”
Are the players developing or regressing under Bruce?
Getting better
Getting worse
Hope has somewhat echoed Bruce’s sentiment of Newcastle not doing enough on Sunday, having shared on Twitter: “That felt like a result NUFC have been due for some time.
“My concern is (& I’m repeating myself), they are getting worse, not better. I don’t buy the excuse of players not being capable either.”
Bruce suggested earlier this month that the first-team lack the quality needed to ‘pass the ball around better’ while rejecting the notion of some of our results being lucky.
The Magpies travelled to Arsenal on Sunday riding the wave of an eight-game unbeaten streak across all competitions, though that run featured a 1-1 draw with League One Rochdale, a turgid draw with Wolves, a goalless draw with Oxford United and a 0-0 draw with Norwich City that saw the first-team booed off at the final whistle after a dreadful performance.
Here are some of the messages shared as fans reacted to Hope claiming players may be getting worse, not better under Bruce…
Supporters who exhibit that type of behavior is shameful. Whether they played great or not, they are people too at the end of the day. World is a little bigger than a damn football match. Embarrassing
— Toon Army Virginia (@ToonArmy757) February 17, 2020
Agreed on all points
— Andy (@apb7891) February 17, 2020
Well done on being only journalist prepared to call out what the reality is here #nufc
— Mark Tserkezie (@MTserkezie) February 17, 2020
So @CraigHope_DM do you think Bruce is capable of managing nufc are is he out of his depths. Take away his formation issues his substitutions often give the impression of a man who has no idea what to do to change things and he’s just hoping something happens.
— steven jones (@towlawstev) February 17, 2020
Bruce is proving he is not capable. He doesn’t put the hours in trying to get his apparent style of play across. He has had ample time now. Winging it and his luck has run out.
— Raj Bithal (@Biffarinho) February 17, 2020
No Newcastle player has improved this season, some have gone backwards (Dummett, Longstaff) that’s all got to be down to the level of coaching or lack there of
— David Morgan (@chief_morgan) February 17, 2020
Its almost as if we never signed a striker in the transfer window……
— Kris Leighton (@toontong85) February 17, 2020
Craig Hope
‘They’re getting worse, not better’You’re right✅ pic.twitter.com/lkYMW0LNg5
— Rafa Facts (@FactsRafa) February 17, 2020
In other Newcastle United news, Bruce has met with a 22-cap man keen to join in a permanent deal but did not discuss any potential transfer.