So what is it then

[Geordie1974]

Is it great football or is this the truth.

https://mol.im/a/7961759

The facts prove it is worse than ever.From a world class manager like Bruce these are damning facts.

[usedtobeshearer]

https://www.skysports.com/football/n...gement-debated

Aye, similar here...

[Zippity]

Well I think those articles articulate what we're all feeling.

Our football is barely worthy of the title; it's so bad it's embarrassing and we've ridden our luck massively yet we've got 31 points.

It defies belief and we'll come unstuck before too long.

[TheOtherTerryMac]

What that comparison fails to recognise and ignores is that during the second half of the season they were in the top six. The longer the team is exposed to Rafa the better they get and towards the back end of last season Newcastle were magnificent and they were going in a direction they hadn't been previously.

"But this year, forget the numbers and believe your eyes, that is a team that has regressed on what we saw at the back end of last season. They've lost a couple of big players in Ayoze Perez and Salomon Rondon but they've also brought in Allan Saint-Maximin and Joelinton, players Steve Bruce said he was more than happy to have and cost £60m."

In a nutshell these two paragraphs sums it up for me as in form last season we were 6th top and playing really well.

I will admit that some of the football under Rafa was very poor but the Norwich game summed it up for me. Teams now just put two men on The Saint and he is neutralised, we don’t have anyone else who has any flair.

Desperate defending and great goalkeeping got us the point and we have Schar and Lejeunes normally on the bench who in my view are the best defenders at the Club

But Bruce won’t play them

[ghostrider]

Bruce is on a hiding to nothing from those who didn't want him in the first place.
If he defends the players, he's damned.
If he defends due to Rafa's original set up, he's damned.
If he attacks and gets hammered, he's damned.

The man cannot win with those that have already cast him to the scrap heap.
We all know he's not a top class manager but there's very few top class managers.

He's at a club that has failed to make any real impact on the top pile since just before the club collapsed under Hall.

As a big club we've underachieved massively from the expectations fans had of that time....obviously.
We've had a host of managers, some good, some fair and some bad and the jury will stay out on who is what and why, because we will not all agree.

Let's not beat about the bush. The football is largely depressing to watch. It was under Rafa and it is under Bruce, mostly.

The thing is, I could accept Rafa's way for a period of time until he got it right.
He didn't get it right after 3 and a bit season and we went backwards.
Argue if you want but that's the reality.

Under Bruce we are dismal half the time but more exciting at times than Rafa ever was, because Rafa simply did not like flair players and you could clearly see that in his set up and as to why the flair players we had, or should I say, the forward thinking players, we're quickly binned off.

Bruce is playing it safe. He's using a defensive mindset to try and solidify and put our stamp on the league in terms of safety.
I'm willing to bet that as soon as it's close, which it is, he will start playing much more attacking football and more exciting football...but not forgetting how easy it is to be swallowed up by being walloped, which he knows will alert the hyenas to the wounded prey.

It's not ideal in many ways but it's just over half a season in for him. He's doing pretty decent in certain aspects. Let's see what he can do as time goes on, because he's surely allowed that.

One thing I notice with certain fans. Once the hate is in, it's in.
There's so much misery on here it beggars belief.

[Milburn9]

Bruce is on a hiding to nothing from those who didn't want him in the first place.
If he defends the players, he's damned.
If he defends due to Rafa's original set up, he's damned.
If he attacks and gets hammered, he's damned.

The man cannot win with those that have already cast him to the scrap heap.
We all know he's not a top class manager but there's very few top class managers.

He's at a club that has failed to make any real impact on the top pile since just before the club collapsed under Hall.

As a big club we've underachieved massively from the expectations fans had of that time....obviously.
We've had a host of managers, some good, some fair and some bad and the jury will stay out on who is what and why, because we will not all agree.

Let's not beat about the bush. The football is largely depressing to watch. It was under Rafa and it is under Bruce, mostly.

The thing is, I could accept Rafa's way for a period of time until he got it right.
He didn't get it right after 3 and a bit season and we went backwards.
Argue if you want but that's the reality.

Under Bruce we are dismal half the time but more exciting at times than Rafa ever was, because Rafa simply did not like flair players and you could clearly see that in his set up and as to why the flair players we had, or should I say, the forward thinking players, we're quickly binned off.

Bruce is playing it safe. He's using a defensive mindset to try and solidify and put our stamp on the league in terms of safety.
I'm willing to bet that as soon as it's close, which it is, he will start playing much more attacking football and more exciting football...but not forgetting how easy it is to be swallowed up by being walloped, which he knows will alert the hyenas to the wounded prey.

It's not ideal in many ways but it's just over half a season in for him. He's doing pretty decent in certain aspects. Let's see what he can do as time goes on, because he's surely allowed that.

One thing I notice with certain fans. Once the hate is in, it's in.
There's so much misery on here it beggars belief.

Wilf. I was enjoying reading that and kinda agreeing with you until you got to 'Under Bruce we are dismal half the time but more exciting at times than Rafa ever was'
Which is just bollox. The football we are playing is an absoute big pile of steaming sh1t. How the hell we have as many points as we do is unbelievable.

[ghostrider]

Wilf. I was enjoying reading that and kinda agreeing with you until you got to 'Under Bruce we are dismal half the time but more exciting at times than Rafa ever was'
Which is just bollox. The football we are playing is an absoute big pile of steaming sh1t. How the hell we have as many points as we do is unbelievable.

Well, it's a case of this.
When a mindset is focused on the bad it rarely gives precedence to the good, so the good gets filtered out.
I see some exciting football at times in games but not enough of it. And some games I see very little of it.
The way I tend to go about stuff is in taking the game one step at a time, in that time and remember it for those times, so I can pick out the good the bad and the ugly and not just the bad and ugly.

Ohh and just to make things even, we had a good amount of it under Rafa. It was't all bad.
I just think we have more exciting players this season than we ever did under Rafa, barring the odd fleeting glimpse of Kenedy.

[pboromag]

Wilf. I was enjoying reading that and kinda agreeing with you until you got to 'Under Bruce we are dismal half the time but more exciting at times than Rafa ever was'
Which is just bollox. The football we are playing is an absoute big pile of steaming sh1t. How the hell we have as many points as we do is unbelievable.

its not when you fight to the end like we have when we have won and squared games up that shows you the lads will fight for the club
they have heart
they believe in the manager

what i just cant understand with some so called supporters is how they thrive on a negative post about a team they say they support

lets face it i would say maybe 3-4 posters on here go to games
they are jubilant when we fail
they are like mackems when a negative piece abiut the toon gets in the press

the same fans would be berating this so called jornalist if he even dared to say anything positive about steve ashly or the team

Rafa had 3 seasons to get us into a relegation team every year we were in the prem
he took us down with a whimper
he brought us up just as champios playing far worse footy in that league than chris did

we are 12th could be top 7-8
playing as we are
ststs dont mean phuck all except to those trying to prove a point ie we have had more shots on target this season than we did last year
yet we focus on missed passes etc
we have roughly the same amount as goals conceeded scored as last

with a manager in his first 5-6 months not 3 seasons and not his playersand with a huge injury list

if i was a true geordie supporter which i am and im sure some on here are as well deep down
i would be looking at facts such as our injury list
our lack of a scorer
the fact ist bruces first few months
the fact he took over a poor squad
we keep going
isnt what we all want in a player is to keep fighting and play for the shirt
they are doing that

and i just cant believe the hatred ofr a fellow geordie
and by that i mean someone like many on here not born in the right area but still clalla themselves a geordie
just like pavell

you should hang your heads in shame that some even call them selves supporters

look up supporter in a dictionary
and im sure it waont say berate everything about the club ,manager owner,players at every given chance or piece from a so called journalist

im sure there may be a few that can actually see what steve is achieving with what he has had is doing a great job
not pretty granted
but better than Ra£as did in his first 5-6 months in the prem

[Milburn9]

I have no problem with the fight shown. We do fight to the end. It'seems the quality on display and the fact that we know we have decent players but they aren't playing at all to their capabilities. The football on display is utter chod. Why do you have this thing in your head with people that don't go to games. I don't go to games. But i've watched every game, I get to hear the commentators, I get to see slomo replays, I get to see everything and even more.... and I know a turd when I see one. Am I maybe a Mackem???

[HughieG]

"If he defends the players, he's damned.
If he defends due to Rafa's original set up, he's damned.
If he attacks and gets hammered, he's damned."

I agree with this bit. Bruce never stood a chance here, and should have known not to take the job.

But his football isn't a lot worse than what we were seeing under Rafa, although it seems to me more random and based on luck.

It's more that he's the symbol of an Ashley-era Yes Man whereas Rafa wasn't. That is the key difference between the two, and that's what bothers me the most about him. Not the 90 mins of shyte.