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Steve Bruce press conference – Says Newcastle United will be Watford’s ‘Cup Final’

4 years ago
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Steve Bruce is looking for a reaction.

The Newcastle United Head Coach saying that it is all about how you respond to embarrassing games like Wednesday at the Etihad.

Man City strolling to a five goal win but it could and should have been double figures, as they completely dominated. The tactics of sitting back and inviting the opposition to score, not exactly a help.

Watford had won only one of their last 11 Premier League games and went behind to Norwich in midweek, a disastrous result averted though as they battled back to win 2-1.

Giving an insight into his planning, Steve Bruce declares; ‘You have to score a goal to win a match’ and hopes the likely return of ASM and Almiron to the team will help ensure that is the case.

Quite remarkable that Newcastle have won 11 and drawn 10 of 34 PL matches, when you consider that in only nine of their 34 games have NUFC scored more than one goal.

In the 34 matches, Newcastle have failed to score in 12 games, one goal in 13 matches, two goals in six of them, then twice scoring three and four only in that Bournemouth game.

The bookies make Watford odds-on favourites and Newcastle just short of 4/1, hopefully NUFC can carry a goal threat to upset the odds.

Watford go into the match still only three points clear of relegation after Bournemouth picked up a draw on Thursday night.

Steve Bruce reflects on embarrassment at Man City and looks forward to Watford:

“It’s how you respond to the manner of it [Man City humiliation].

“In 38 games, I’m sure that most teams, unless you’re really one of those ones at the top, have had those awful days.

“Like always, you never want to play badly on the biggest stage, that’s for sure. What you do get in football is the chance to go again.

“We’ve got it round the corner, [the chance to] be more like ourselves, so I expect and demand a better performance tomorrow and I’m confident the players can do that.

“Their own personal pride will be hurt and the one thing they are here is genuine.

“Yes, of course we’ve had two or three bad days, and one of them was against Manchester City the other night.

“However, it’s how you respond to it, and I expect them to respond in the right way.

“I hope Almirón, Saint-Maximin and the skipper [Lascelles] will be okay – we’ll see how they are after training. That will give us a hand.

“Unfortunately, the other night – and I’m not trying to make excuses, we were badly beaten – but we had too many of our big players not available and it turned into one of those awful nights for us.

“I think why we’ve changed is to try and get the best out of our players in forward areas.

“You have to score a goal to win a match. I’m sure we’ll benefit if they’re right, the two [ASM and Almiron] of them.

“I’ve studied Watford since we’re now taking them on, and have watched them twice, and think they’ve got some good players – how are they in the situation they’re in?

“That’s how difficult the Premier League is.

Nigel (Pearson)’s done a wonderful job in turning them round. They’re big, strong and powerful, and make no mistake – they’ll be looking at this as their cup final.

“They’ll be looking at us and thinking, ‘what a chance we’ve got today’. We have to be guarded against that and see what we can do.”

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