Steve Bruce has admitted he held a training ground inquest to get to the bottom of Newcastle United’s problems. The Toon boss and his players – those who aren’t on international duty – have been back to work in the early part of this week to try to iron out some of the issues that cost them at Southampton. After mustering just two shots on target, Newcastle handed the Saints two gift-wrapped goals to allow them to take a 2-0 victory. Bruce revealed he was left baffled by the disappearance of the performance levels Newcastle had demonstrated just days earlier in a good win over Everton at St James’ Park.
Steve Bruce said “The one thing that annoys me more than anything is the inconsistency that nags away at me constantly. We didn’t get anywhere near where we had been five days before. And that is my biggest disappointment. To play in the Premier League and be successful at it, then you have to reach a level and of course you don’t get to them levels all the time. But there can’t be a huge gulf like there was at Southampton. That is the upsetting thing for me that we didn’t look anywhere near it. Make no mistake I will do everything I possibly can to ask the question why.”
