Bruno Guimaraes clearly has high standards set for himself after admitting that he was not at his best as Newcastle United beat Southampton on Sunday.
Newcastle weren’t at their best collectively in the first half but after the break, and a tacitical tweak by Eddie Howe, the Magpies were back to their best as was Bruno Guimaraes.
Granted, Bruno did miss a gilt-edged chance in the first half against Southampton. Well, gilt-edged for him, tricky for mere mortals. As the ball fell to him on the edge of the area, Bruno lashed his left foot at it and for a split-second the ball looked destined for the top-left corner, but it ended up dragging wide.
After that Bruno looked genuinely gutted and maybe that is the moment that was playing on his mind when he took to Twitter to say: “Not my best day at the office today, I know that but it happens sometimes. Very happy for our reaction and for the 3 points”
Bruno was not happy with himself despite Newcastle winning 3-1
Maybe it was that missed effort or the fact that he was caught in possession which then led to the Southampton goal, but those were two blips in an otherwise typical Bruno performance for Newcastle.
For me, Bruno was still the one pulling the strings from the centre of the park, making things happen. His passing is second to none as is his ability to put his foot on the ball and slow the play down to get a better view of what’s happening.
The Chronicle gave Bruno 8/10 and that was apparently a bad day at the office
Bruno’s control of the game is phenomenal, and one missed chance and an unfortunate error do not a bad performance make.
On the flip side, though, I love this from Bruno. It shows just how high the standards are that he sets himself. For context, The Chronicle gave him an 8/10 rating saying: “Lost the ball to hand Saints an opener. But recovered with strong display and helped push Newcastle ahead 2-1.”
If an 8/10 is a ‘bad game’, then you’ll do for me, bonny lad.
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