Newcastle United have just two wins in their last 17 Premier League matches after their 1-1 draw vs. Aston Villa yesterday. While Jamaal Lascelles saved a point for the Magpies, Steve Bruce again put his club in a poor position to succeed.
Bruce only made one change from his starting XI vs. West Brom from last weekend. He dropped Jeff Hendrick in favor of Dwight Gayle. Fans are rightfully always pleased when Hendrick is benched, but somehow, Bruce turned that positive decision into a negative.
Under a normal, Premier League-quality manager, you’d expect Gayle to be deployed in his natural position at striker. Unfortunately, Bruce continues to show that he’s not worthy of being the manager in the top flight.
He started Gayle out of position on the left wing. Who did he start in the center of the attack instead of Gayle? That would be Ryan Fraser, who is a winger.
Steve Bruce showcased again yesterday why he should be sacked at Newcastle United.
After playing both players out of position for most of the match, he did finally swap them. In addition to that tactical mishap, he waited until the 79th minute to make a substitution in a match that was scoreless at that time.
While bringing on Jacob Murphy for Fraser proved to be a smart decision, Bruce made a defensive change with his next substitution and waited until after the club went down to bring on an extra attacking player.
Newcastle were lucky to come away with a point, but that was largely in spite of Bruce’s tactical decisions. It’s beyond time for him to be shown the door and yesterday’s tactical disaster was yet another example of why he needs to be sacked.