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Steve Bruce : January Manchester City win was long, long time ago, Newcastle now a ‘Different team’

4 years ago
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Steve Bruce has taken his pre-Manchester City press conference.

The NUFC head coach meeting journalists early Friday morning before training.

The fourteenth Premier League game of the season and Newcastle looking to bounce back after defeat at Villa.

Asked if he and his staff/team had been learning lessons from how Newcastle United had beaten Manchester City in January, Steve Bruce dismissed it as not relevant.

The NUFC Head Coach claiming ‘What has gone on in the past was a long, long time ago. We are practically a different team’, that 2-1 win was only 10 months ago and all of that winning team are still at St James Park apart from Perez and Rondon.

Asked about the lack of goals from the attacking trio, Steve Bruce confirmed that none of them would be dropped on Saturday and stated: ‘Up until Monday against Aston Villa, where we weren’t good enough across the board, I’ve been delighted with them.’

Admitting that the performance on Monday night was nowhere good enough, Steve Bruce says that what counts if how you react to adversity.

An interesting Saturday afternoon awaits.

Steve Bruce talking on Friday morning and asked if he’d been looking at how Newcastle beat Manchester City in January:

“What has gone on in the past was a long, long time ago.

“We are practically a different team.

“We will focus on what we can do and hopefully get the result.

“That would be nice.

“Manchester City have got that unbelievable balance and depth in their squad.

“They’re all top, top players and they’ve proved that over the years.

“You can only applaud them but we can still get stuck in against them tomorrow and hopefully cause an upset.”

On the front three:

“Up until Monday against Aston Villa, where we weren’t good enough across the board, I’ve been delighted with them.

“Against Bournemouth and against West Ham they were terrific so I’ll keep persevering with them.

“We’re all disappointed with how we played against Aston Villa.

“We didn’t play well enough and that’s not just the front three that’s the whole team.

“The most important thing for me is always the team.”

On reacting to defeats:

“We had been going along very nicely for a good few weeks and were disappointed with how we played the other night (at Villa).

“The Premier League is unforgiving and it is how you respond and how you take the defeat.”

On Sean Longstaff return:

“He has had to wait a long time for his suspension.

“Three games has spanned over something like six weeks so it will be good to see him back.”

On Matt Ritchie injury:

“It’s a tiny piece of bone which came away with the impact [from the tackle] so they’ve gone into the tendon to remove it.

“These operations are minor so hopefully it’s done the trick and we see him January.

“We’re devastated and so is he.

“We did give him a period of rest, he went to see the specialist again and had the operation the next morning.

“We hope this time he’s back in training in early January.”

On injuries generally:

“We have got a problem with DeAndre Yedlin. He’s hurt his hip.

“Apart from that everybody (apart from Ritchie and Lascelles) else is OK.”

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