Newcastle United’s players were given Monday off by manager Steve Bruce as he could not guarantee that he would not lose his temper once again.
Newcastle were hammered 5-0 by Leicester City, and after the game, Bruce ripped into his players and accused some of them of hiding behind him rather than showing what they are capable of.
This led to Bruce asking the team to not go into training until Tuesday.
A report in the Guardian via the Telegraph claims that there will be a full debrief of Sunday’s shambolic performance and the players will also hold their own meeting – which will be led by the captain Jamaal Lascelles and other senior members.
This Newcastle squad is often seen to be together and determined to fight for each other, but there was none of that on display on Sunday.
However, the manager must also take the blame, he can shout at his players as much as he wants, but if they have no idea what they are supposed to be doing, then I am not sure they can be criticised too heavily.
The blame for this defeat seems to be getting pinned on the players, but I think that Bruce was out-thought by a superior manager and it is he who needs to take a long hard look at himself, not the players.
He has a £40m striker up top who has no idea how to get the ball to and a talented creative footballer in Miguel Almiron that he doesn’t know where to play.
If he could start admitting these mistakes and focus on some tactical plans, then maybe his Newcastle side would not look so out of their depth.