Word On The Tweet

“Rubbish”, “Nonsense” – Horde of Newcastle fans laugh off pundit’s Toon “myth”

|

A horde of Newcastle United fans have been laughing off Kevin Kilbane and Micah Richards’ suggestion that the Toon are playing better football under Steve Bruce than we were under Rafa Benitez last season.

The pair voiced their views on BBC Radio 5 Live Sport ahead of our trip to Burnley on Saturday, and suggested that Bruce should be lauded more than he currently has been, as the former Aston Villa boss has done a “fairly remarkable” job in getting the squad playing as they have.

“I think what they’ve done this season is fairly remarkable after Steve Bruce’s appointment and the negativity around it,” Kilbane said, via quotes by the Chronicle. “I actually think they’re playing better football than last year.

“I saw the last couple of games where they didn’t actually play too well across the course of the games, but across the season they’ve played better football than last year.”

Richards added: “At the end of the day, they’re playing good football like you said, they’re two points off fifth. They’ve got a couple of injuries

“When we were on this show about a month ago, everyone was saying Newcastle are going down, and they’ll be down by Christmas. I just feel Bruce deserves a little bit more respect now, I think he should have earned the fans respect.”

Who plays the better football?

Bruce

Benitez

We travelled to Turf Moor at the weekend on the back of recording successive Premier League wins for the second time in the Bruce-era, having beaten Sheffield United and Southampton after previous back-to-back triumphs in November.

Our results preceding the Burnley game moved the club up to 11th in the league standings on 22 points, with six wins and four draws from 17 games – two points fewer than fifth-placed Manchester United. But losing at the Clarets saw the Toon remain seven points clear of the relegation places, after 18th-placed Southampton also lost.

Bruce’s Toon are also averaging the least possession of any top-flight side this season with 39%, with which we are creating the 19th-most shots per game (10.1) and 18th-most shots on target (3.5).

At this stage of last season, Benitez had overseen four wins and four draws in 17 games for a total of 16 points, as we sat four points above the bottom three without the help of £21million January arrival Miguel Almiron or summer signings Allan Saint-Maximin and Joelinton at £20m and £40m respectively.

Here are some of the messages shared as fans reacted to Kilbane and Richards’ comment that Bruce has the Toon playing better football than we did under Benitez last season…

In other Newcastle United news, the Toon are being made to wait over a potential January deal as Bruce identifies a £14m target.

Share this article

Leave a comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *