Over the seasons, I have found myself at odds with BBC Sport pundit Garth Crooks’ comments on Newcastle’s performances, but this week, the former Tottenham player has got it spot on.
An abject display and subsequent defeat left Toon supporters scratching their heads at what they witnessed, and more questions were added to the long list already being asked about Steve Bruce.
And in his usual post-weekend team of the week column for BBC Sport, Crooks was quick to follow up his fearful comments from the previous week with a damning verdict of Saturday’s capitulation.
Speaking about the inclusion of Norwich’s hat-trick hero Teemu Pukki in his top team, Crooks said: “Anyone who scores a hat-trick in the Premier League deserves high praise and Teemu Pukki’s efforts against Newcastle entitled him to nothing less.
“However, I said last week, in the Crooks of the Matter, that the departure of Rafael Benitez from St James’ Park left the Magpies up the creek without a paddle.
“It’s only the second weekend of the Premier League season and Newcastle look absolutely rudderless.”
He has hit the nail on the head with that summing up.
We played with no purpose or direction, and never looked able to change course to retrieve the situation following Pukki’s opening goal.
Fans who were vocal about the ability of Bruce to succeed in the Newcastle job are being given more ammunition to fire his way with every despairing minute of football we are playing.
It seems a very uphill battle for Bruce from here
Crooks says we are “up the creek without a paddle” and “rudderless”, and I would suggest that Bruce looks to be well out of his depth.
Of course, this is football, and you are only ever as bad as your next result, and things can change quickly. But the signs are not great, and while the next two away games look like Mission Impossible, the Watford game sandwiched in between is vital.
Of course, it is not a must-win game for Newcastle, with plenty more twists and turns of a Premier League season ahead, but for Steve Bruce it most definitely is.
If we reach mid-September still pointless, Bruce could well find himself going into the televised home game with Brighton and the away game at Leicester already needing wins to keep hold of his ‘dream’ job.
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