When Bruno spoke to the media after the match, he didn’t hesitate to discuss a downright pathetic display. He called it a “mess” while openly criticizing our lack of consistency and questioning our mentality and lack of fight:
“I’m very angry, I’m so ashamed and so frustrated. There was no crossing, no passing and no shooting. No, nothing. It was a mess, in my opinion.”
“We know we have a better team than them (Sunderland), but we didn’t play like the better team. It was a mess.”
“The consistency is not there, the mentality is not there. We did not fight. The fans expect and deserve better.”
“We accepted the way they play with the long balls. You have to participate in a derby and we didn’t do that.”
“There’s only one way to go from here… and that’s to win in a few days.”
In quotes shared by ESPN, Bruno also discussed our inability to win matches, the lack of quality on the ball and the justified criticism the team will receive from the supporters:
“It’s hard for me to accept. I’m very frustrated. One of those weeks we were very excited on the training pitch, but we came here and didn’t perform in the way we could have performed.”
“So frustrated and it makes me angry about our performance today. We weren’t there. No shooting the ball, no crossing, no passing. We should have demanded more from the ball.”
“I think we just accepted the way they play: long balls, winning the duels. In derbies we have to win the duels. It’s not just a defeat, but more the way we play.”
“The fans are right [to criticise] because it is difficult to accept. We had a great opportunity to go ahead of them, but we just missed it. For me it’s so frustrating.”
Bruno is right and sums up our fundamental issues well, but we need actions now, not words.
He is not the problem and I suspect it would have been a different story on Sunday if we had had eleven players with his heart and quality on the pitch. However, something is clearly wrong and something needs to change if we are to reverse what is quickly turning into a nightmare season.
Fulham on Wednesday is huge, as is Saturday’s match with Chelsea in the Premier League, but it will take more than just a few wins to make up for that unacceptable derby display.
#Furious #Bruno #Guimaraes #hold #mess #Newcastle #angry