Steve Bruce Newcastle
Steve Bruce says his team “got to grips” with Chelsea too late in the game to prevent a defeat at Stamford Bridge. The Magpies went down 2-0 and are now in serious trouble at the wrong end of the table. They sit fourth-bottom with Fulham seven points behind with a game in hand on United.
Steve Bruce said: “We were excellent in the second half and in the first half we found it very difficult. The way they played the system they had, the two inside forwards we didn’t deal with it well enough. Second half we got to grips with it and we were more aggressive – a lot of positives. First half was very difficult for us. With 10-15 minutes to go we can ask a question. We’re disappointed with the first half if I’m being brutally honest we got back in the game in the second half. Defending you leave yourself a bit exposed, with the pace of Timo Werner and Callum Hudson-Odoi and Tammy Abraham up the top – they’re top class players. You have to get that balance right and we’re still working on that. We’ve been hit with covid, illnesses and injuries but it’s all part and parcel of this season. All teams are struggling with all the games we’re playing and we’ve just got to keep going.”
Bruce said that United have seven or eight rivals in the relegation dogfight with them.
Steve Bruce said: “I expect fight from us, there’s six, seven or eight teams in the bottom half with a long way to go and lot of games to play. If we show that spirit like we did in that second half we’ll be alright.”
