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Steve Bruce refuses to resign after ultimate embarrassing night at Bramall Lane

3 years ago
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This was the most embarrassing day / night for Steve Bruce of his time at Newcastle United…so far.

Admittedly against some pretty strong competition in terms of previous NUFC embarrassments under this Head Coach, Bruce managed to pull it off.

It is possible for any team to lose any game BUT when you look at what Steve Bruce did on Tuesday night at Bramall Lane, it was beyond shocking.

I can’t believe that any other Premier League manager / head coach would have chosen these tactics and team selection in the circumstances.

Sheffield United without a win all season in the Premier League.

Sheffield United without a PL win in over six months.

Sheffield United without a single clean sheet all season.

Sheffield United with two points from a possible 51 all season.

So what does Steve Bruce do?

He selected a back five, with then three defensive midfielders, Callum Wilson all alone up front and as for Ryan Fraser, not exactly sure what he was doing / where he was playing. Fraser getting two yellow cards in quick succession just before the break when defending in the right-back position…

Sheffield United had totally dominated and should have had the game won by the time of the red card, to be honest it appeared to hamper rather than help them, as they eventually got their vital goal with 17 minutes, VAR punishing Federico Fernandez.

Steve Bruce actually had the nerve to make out he has been so badly done to by VAR this season, when in actual fact it has been one of his greatest assets! Bruce getting extraordinary luck via VAR decisions this season, such as that penalty / point at Spurs.

Steve Bruce declared: ‘How someone 300 miles away on a TV screen can overturn it, is beyond me.’ Well Steve, it doesn’t matter how far away they are if they are watching TV replays, when slowed down it showed clearly Federico Fernandez moving his hand to flick the ball away. He was unlucky BUT only because he got caught, he knew exactly what he was doing!

Asked if he would go now after this ultimate embarrassment made it eight games without a win, some ten hours with only one goal scored by NUFC, Steve Bruce has refused to resign.

Steve Bruce won the lottery when ridiculously Mike Ashley took him from the Championship, when not a single other Premier League club would have had him on the longest list in the world, never mind a short list.

Steve Bruce is clearly not going to leave without that massive final play-off with still 18 months left of his NUFC contract, Bruce declaring about leaving / resigning: ‘I will leave that for other people to decide. I will never ever walk away from the challenge.’

Playing with a goalkeeper and eight defensive players, Steve Bruce actually claimed he had made his team selection to make Newcastle more of a goal threat.

Maybe he should ask Callum Wilson what he thinks of that.

Steve Bruce is a total embarrassment as Newcastle United Head Coach and if he was in any way a Newcastle fan, he would give up on his massive pay-off and walk away now, maybe retain a minute bit of dignity.

Steve Bruce asked about his future and if he should resign / go:

“I will leave that for other people to decide.

“I will never ever walk away from the challenge.

“I understand that especially in the first half we were not good enough, I take responsibility for that.

“We didn’t give ourselves a chance going forward, we didn’t create.

“First half was arguably as bad as we have played in a long time

“I have tried to change it in attack because we haven’t scored.

“In hindsight, I needed to change it [again] at half-time but the red card stopped that.

Making it eight in a row (without a win):

“When you are in the bottom half, you can end up having a run like this.

“We knew that the festive period would be difficult and that tonight would be [difficult].”

VAR / Penalty decision:

“You know that when the referee goes to the [pitchside] screen it will be a penalty, it is pathetic, it is beyond me.

“Then there is the horror challenge by Billy Sharp [on Fabian Schar], that should be a straight red card as it is blatant, but they didn’t check it.

“It is laughable the whole VAR situation, I don’t think anyone enjoys it.

“I am struggling to cope with it, week in week out, it is ruining the game .

“VAR is supposed to be for clear and obvious decisions.

“How someone 300 miles away on a TV screen can overturn it, is beyond me.”

Stats from BBC Sport:

Sheffield United 1 Newcastle 0 – Tuesday 12 January 6pm

Goals:

Newcastle:

Ryan Fraser 45 red card

Sheff Utd:

Sharp 73 pen

(Half-time stats in brackets)

Possession was Sheff Utd 66% (61%)  Newcastle 34% (39%)

Total shots were Sheff Utd 17 (10) Newcastle 7 (3)

Shots on target Sheff Utd 4 (2) Newcastle 3 (0)

Corners were Sheff Utd 5 (4) Newcastle 2 (1)

Referee: Andy Madley

Newcastle United:

Darlow, Yedlin (Murphy 84), Schar, Fernandez (Carroll 77), Clark, Dummett (Ritchie 74), Hayden, Hendrick, Sean Longstaff, Fraser, Wilson

Unused Subs:

Dubravka, M Longstaff,  Joelinton, Gayle, Almiron, Anderson

(Sheffield United 1 Newcastle 0 – Match ratings and comments on all the NUFC players – Read HERE)

(Sheffield United 1 Newcastle 0 – Instant NUFC fan/writer reaction to Tuesday’s defeat – Read HERE)

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