You’ll struggle to find a single Newcastle fan with anything positive to say about Steve Bruce right now. But in Liverpool, Bruce has plenty of admirers.
The Magpies face Liverpool in Saturday’s early kick off, with Bruce looking to make it three wins on the bounce.
After the devastating defeat to Brighton, it looked like the end for the Newcastle manager.
But Mike Ashley refused to make a change, and stood by Bruce.
Since then, Newcastle have picked up seven points from a possible nine. We’re now eight points clear of the relegation zone, closing in on Premier League safety.
With Fulham not set to play this weekend, a positive result against Liverpool will drag us even closer to survival.
It’s an important game for Liverpool as well, as they look to salvage their season by finishing in the top four.
It has been a turbulent week for the champions amid the European Super League fiasco.
But ahead of the game, Klopp has taken the time to praise his opposite number, and name two of his players who speak highly of Bruce.
“Steve is a great guy and a superb leader of a football club,” Klopp said in his programme notes.
“I’ve said this before in these pages, I have some very influential players in my team who have played for him. Jordan Henderson and Andy Robertson speak so highly of him as a person and a manager.”
Jordan Henderson broke into the Sunderland team under Bruce, who took over as Black Cats manager in 2009.
As for Andy Robertson, Bruce was in charge of Hull when the Scottish defender joined the Tigers in 2014.
Both players have gone on to have fantastic careers, winning the Premier League and Champions League with Liverpool.
While Henderson won’t feature because of injury, Robertson will likely start against his former manager’s side.
The left-back played in the game at St James’ Park, going head to head with Federico Fernandez.
It ended 0-0 that night, thanks to a wonderful goalkeeping performance from Karl Darlow.
It’ll be Martin Dubravka in between the sticks this time, but another 0-0 draw would certainly be a positive result.
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