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Deluded Newcastle United fans now owe Steve Bruce an apology – Gabby Agbonlahor

3 years ago
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Gabby Agbonlahor says Newcastle United fans are deluded.

Gabby Agbonlahor says Newcastle United fans need to apologise to Steve Bruce.

Gabby Agbonlahor is a friend of Steve Bruce’s and played under him at Aston Villa.

Gabby Agbonlahor is not a Newcastle fan.

What a strange world we live in.

When a media / pundit Bruce loyalist such as Gabby Agbonlahor, feels he can confidently declare, without fear of ridicule from the outside world, when Newcastle United are now on a run of only three wins in their last twenty two games: ‘Newcastle fans will owe Steve Bruce an apology for the way they’ve treated him.’

The former Villa / Bruce player pointing to the Saint-Maximin inspired win against Burnley as proof of how wrong Newcastle fans are, claiming that with the likes of ASM back, Newcastle will be ‘a different team.’

Yet again this myth of Newcastle having suffered far more than any competitor with injuries to key attacking players. Reality is that Almiron has only missed been named in two of the 31 Premier League matchday squads, Callum Wilson has missed eight and ASM missed thirteen of the 31.

Throughout this season Gabby Agbonlahor has came out with daft stuff bigging up and defending his mate Steve Bruce. What though the likes of this feeble pundit don’t appreciate, is how easy it is these days to swiftly compare and contrast what they have previously came out with.

On 20 November 2020 (see below), Gabby Agbonlahor was saying about how unreliable Allan Saint-Maximin is, yet now it is guaranteed success if the likes of him are back playing regularly.

Another classic Agbonlahor came out with back in November 2020 was: ‘I just think these Newcastle fans need to be careful what they wish for. Do they want to be in the position that Burnley are in?’

At that time, Newcastle had eleven points after eight PL games and Burnley only two points. Between then and Sunday’s game between the two teams, Sean Dyche’s side had picked up another 31 points in their last 22 games, Steve Bruce and his players only adding another 18 points in their 22 matches.

The reality is on Sunday that a very poor Burnley side completely dominated Newcastle United for just under an hour, then failed to deal at all with Allan Saint-Maximin who had a magic five minute spell just after he came on, that turned the game.

People like Gabby Agbonlahor are just an embarrassing joke and ideally should just be ignored, as Newcastle fans we know what the truth is. The problem is though that the media and neutrals are more than happy to repeat rubbish like he (Agbonlahor) and others come out with, without challenging it, so somebody has to do it!

Steve Bruce has been allowed a net spend of over £100m on transfers and has signed  14 players on either permanent or temporary (loan) deals in his time so far, yet on Sunday only one Bruce signing was in the starting eleven, whilst seven of the eight outfield substitutes were Bruce signings. Yes, Wilson and ASM would have been in the team if fully fit but what about all of the other players Steve Bruce has signed AND the only Bruce signing who started was Joelinton! Steve Bruce insists that he has had the final say on all Newcastle signings since he arrived at St James Park, so nobody else can take the credit for them…

Gabby Agbonlahor speaking to Talksport – 20 November 2020:

“Newcastle fans are quite deluded.

“Steve Bruce is doing a great job with the players that he has available.

“If they play expansive and open football they will get beat 6-0 every game.

“He’s playing the right formation with the players that he’s got at his disposal, I think that he’s doing a great job there.

“If Rafa Benitez had done the job Steve Bruce has done, they [Newcastle fans] would be saying he’s a tactical genius, that Rafa is doing an amazing job.

“But for some reason, because it is Steve Bruce, it’s boring.

“For me, it’s not boring.

“I just think these Newcastle fans need to be careful what they wish for.

“Do they want to be in the position that Burnley are in?

“It’s frustrating to hear [what Newcastle fans are saying] and needs to stop.

“Do they want him to play like Norwich did last season?

“It is good on the eye, they play from the back…lose it in midfield and concede four or five a game.

“That is not what Newcastle fans are going to want in the long run because they don’t want their team to go back down.

“If Steve Bruce had the players to play the way Newcastle fans want, I think he would do it…no offence to Shelvey or Hayden.

“I think Saint-Maximin can be Neymar one day and then Julian Joachim the next day and that can be so frustrating for a manager, he doesn’t do it consistently and that is what he [Steve Bruce] wants from Saint-Maximin – to do it week in and week out.”

Gabby Agbonlahor talking to Football Insider – 13 April 2021:

“I’ve said this all through the season that Steve Bruce deserved people to get off his back.

“He’s had a hard season with injuries, coronavirus affected his squad the most with players missing games.

“Once you get Callum Wilson back, once you get Allan Saint-Maximin back they’ll be a different team and it’s shown already.

“Newcastle will be absolutely fine, they’ve got no chance of going down. They will continue to get wins.

“Newcastle fans will owe Steve Bruce an apology for the way they’ve treated him.

“Hopefully the Newcastle chairman will give him some money in the summer to build an even better team.

“I’m happy for him and I’m happy that he’s got those players back.”

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