Newcastle were an absolute disgrace at Leicester on Sunday and it seems clear that the only way to save the club is to sack Steve Bruce immediately.
It will be a huge decision for Lee Charnley and Mike Ashley to make, but admitting they simply got it wrong, and acknowledging their mistake early by making a swift change could give a capable manager the time to keep us in the Premier League.
In the wake of the humiliating scoreline, which was only worsened by the actual performance, a few things became abundantly clear.
Bruce has clearly lost the fans – if he ever had them on-side in the first place; it looked as though he has lost the players’ belief; he seems to have lost any support he had in the regional press; and he appears to have lost the plot.
The reason Bruce wanted the job should be the same reason he walks away
When he resigned from his role at Sheffield Wednesday, Bruce pointed to his love for Newcastle as his reason for needing to take the job.
Well I would say that it should be because of his love for Newcastle that he holds his hands up and resigns from his post, before he takes us further down the dark path that ends in the Championship.
He has constantly cited how difficult a job anyone following Rafa Benitez would have, and he is correct. But I would suggest that a different manager would not still be harping on about it seven games into the season, and only one win to his name.
That defeat at Leicester had little to do with Rafa – or his legacy – and more to do with utter ineptness and incompetency of a manager who looks so far out of his depth he is already drowning.
Tactics and team selection highlights Bruce’s inadequacies
His decision to start Yoshinori Muto over a Allan Saint-Maximin, who single-handedly transformed a game last week – albeit without managing to find a winning goal – was ridiculous.
Even if he was not fit enough to play 90 minutes, he should have started him, and got as much out of him for 60 minutes or so as he could.
Then there was the decision to change his five at the back, for a 4-4-2 formation. Whether there was an injury or not, he could have brought Federico Fernandez in and maintained the system he has used all season.
I have often called for him to try switching it, but would not advocate doing so away to a third placed side who are absolutely flying.
A point would have been a great result, and even if Paul Dummett is not the most able wing-back, his main responsibility would have been defensive duties regardless, and having an extra man back there would have increased the chances of getting something.
Bruce looks like a beaten man – and this is after just seven games!
He is clueless, devoid of ideas, cannot motivate his players, makes bungled team selections and looks everywhere else for excuses, despite the blame lying with himself.
I have seen enough. I only hope that Charnley and Ashley have too.
Bruce simply must go now, or when we get relegated again in May – and we absolutely will unless there is change – there is unlikely to be an instant return to the Premier League like last time.
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