In the wake of Newcastle’s second straight defeat, Steve Bruce has said he is desperate to get striker Dwight Gayle fit and available, according to the Chronicle.
Certainly Newcastle have looked lightweight in front of goal in their opening two games, and Yoshinori Muto has not looked like the answer when he has come off the bench.
But if Steve Bruce is putting all his eggs in Dwight Gayle’s basket, then he could be left disappointed.
Bruce said: “If you are a Championship manager you’d take Dwight Gayle because he’s the best striker in the Championship.”
And therein lies much of the problem.
Bruce is thinking like a Championship manager, and expecting Premier League returns from, essentially, a Championship player.
Gayle was prolific for Newcastle during our Championship title-winning season, and was equally superb for West Brom last year.
But he has failed to translate that second tier form to the Premier League, despite a number of opportunities to do so.
Two games in and already desperate times for Steve Bruce
It smacks of desperate hopes from a desperate manager, who knows the only way he had any chance to win Newcastle fans over was to get off to a flying start, and – unfortunately for him – the exact opposite has happened.
I am sure having looked at the opening fixtures following his appointment, he dreamed of a huge win against Arsenal, followed up by grabbing all three points at Norwich, and being lauded as the new messiah by fans.
What he got are defeat against Arsenal with confusion reigning over a substitution that led to the goal, a humiliating thrashing at Norwich with a lacklustre, pathetic performance, and questions being asked over both his tactics and ability.
He needs to halt the slump quickly before the situation spirals out of control, and while he may not be on borrowed time with Lee Charnley and Mike Ashley, he is already running out of it with the fans.
Receive a digest of our best Newcastle content each week direct to your mailbox
