Steve Bruce accused his Newcastle side of “complete surrender” as they suffered a 5-0 humiliation at the hands of Leicester City on Sunday. The Foxes went ahead through Ricardo Pereira’s 16th-minute opener but it was Isaac Hayden’s dismissal shortly before half time that was the catalyst for the Magpies capitulating after the interval.
Jamie Vardy scored twice, either side of Paul Dummett’s unfortunate own goal, as the visitors conceded three times in the space of 11 second-half minutes before Wilfred Ndidi completed the rout late on. The result leaves Newcastle second-bottom in the Premier League, with only one win from their first seven fixtures, increasing the pressure on an exasperated Bruce.
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Unless there is a big turnaround, the Magpies are staring relegation in the face, and Bruce admits the attitude of his players is a worry. Character is needed in times of trouble and Bruce feels that was not on show after going down to 10 men. “It was simply nowhere near what’s required. Ten men, nine men, the one thing you can show is a bit of resilience, a bit of determination, a bit of fight or a bit of courage,” he said.
“We haven’t shown enough resilience and that’s disappointing for me as I sit here because that’s the only thing that I genuinely demand of them. “We have to apply ourselves better than what I’ve just witnessed there because it was a complete surrender too quickly and too easily.”
Newcastle captain Jamaal Lascelles was equally scathing, saying the performance was not acceptable “(It was) terrible from the boys, it’s no-one’s fault to blame but ourselves,” he said. “OK, we went a man down but we’ve still got 10 men on the pitch and leaking four goals is not good enough. It’s just not acceptable. We really do need to look at ourselves in the mirror.”
Newcastle now have to pick themselves up for a home game with Manchester United on Sunday, before travelling to Chelsea the week after.
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