Bruce glad to Toon it round
(right)
STEVE BRUCE still shudders when he relives his darkest day as Newcastle boss.
The Magpies’ 5-0 humiliation at the hands of a rampant Leicester side was bad enough.
But in the wake of that Foxes’ mauling, the Toon boss shed his Mr Nice Guy image with an expletiveladen tirade against a team he felt had badly let down both him and the travelling fans.
Bruce knew the gamble could have backfired but the players listened, took their punishment and learnt.
A week later, a fired-up Newcastle beat Manchester United and their campaign was up and running.
Despite successive festive defeats at the hands of United and Everton, the head coach is confident Leicester will face a very different Newcastle at St James’ Park today.
“When you deliver some home truths, the one thing you need is a response,” said Bruce.
“If they down tools, you’ve had it but the response from them has been very good.
“Their resilience, effort and endeavour, I cannot fault. Everton was our first home defeat since August.
“We’d love a bit more quality at certain times but the spirit is there for everybody to see.”
While Bruce has injuries to key players to contend with, he can only look on with envy at Leicester counterpart Brendan Rodgers’ ability to shuffle his pack over the past week.
“To make as many changes as he did on Saturday is pretty drastic,” he added.
“He was obviously looking ahead to our game.
“I know it’s the festive period but when you look at the state of some of our players who played on Boxing Day and at the weekend, it’s ludicrous.”
Andy Carroll has confirmed he wants to prolong his second spell at his hometown club.
The striker, 30, is on course to trigger a clause in his deal which will secure another 12 months at Newcastle.
“I want to stay as long as possible,” he said.
“I’m happy. I’ll just see how it goes.”