“Yo Stevie. Just take the L” – These Newcastle fans react to Bruce’s message

A few Newcastle United fans have been reacting on social media, after Steve Bruce shared the message he gave to the dressing room after Monday’s loss to Aston Villa.

Losing to last season’s Championship Play-Off winners kept us within touching distance of the relegation places as we prepare to face the reigning Premier League title holders Manchester City on Saturday, with five points all that separates us and 18th-placed Norwich City.

Bruce is well aware of the threat of relegation at St. James’ Park, and has warned the players that we are in for a dogfight to stay in the top-flight, as unlike last season there are not two teams coming adrift of the rest of the pack.

“We are a third of the way through [the season], there’s plenty to play for,” Bruce said, via quotes by the Chronicle.

“This time last year, there were two adrift [in] Fulham and Huddersfield, there isn’t at the minute with the weekend results. It’s all to play for, everyone is trying to make a fist of it and all to play for.”

Bruce added that a late, first-half crumble helped lead to Villa keeping the spoils in Birmingham on his return to Villa Park, where fouls by DeAndre Yedlin and Federico Fernandez gave away free-kicks that Conor Hourihane and Anwar El Ghazi would eventually score from.

“The game was gone in two minutes, although we had chances before and after half-time when Tom Heaton made some good saves,” the boss noted.

“The first half, in particular, we did not do enough with or without the ball. We felt we were harshly done by with two free-kicks, but the way Conor Hourihane has executed them made it a difficult night.”

Here are some of the reactions offered to Bruce’s message to his players and the boss’ reflection on why we lost to Aston Villa…