Stephen Warnock revealed he isn’t too concerned for Newcastle United just yet despite their 3-1 loss to Norwich City on Saturday.
The Sky Sports pundit was asked whether he feared for the Magpies after their latest loss and he insisted that he thought the club would be fine given Steve Bruce’s experience.
Warnock pointed out that Newcastle also had a lot of new players who were still settling in at the club, and then directly named Joelinton as being someone who needed time to adapt to the pace of the Premier League.
“I think Steve Bruce has bags of experience, I wouldn’t be too concerned just yet,” said Warnock on Sky Sports News (Monday, August, 19th).
“They’ve got new players in there, Joelinton has got to adapt to the game, to the pace of the Premier League, and there are other players who have come in as well.
“Erm I’d give Steve Bruce time, he is more than experienced enough to deal with these problems.”
OPINION
Pundits aren’t going to be positive about Newcastle after their slow start to the season, and Warnock’s remarks are probably the nicest comments supporters are likely to hear until Bruce’s side rack up a win or deliver a good performance. Newcastle showed signs against Arsenal that they were a capable side, as new recruits Joelinton and Allan Saint-Maximin showed glimpses of their talent. However, the Magpies did seem to struggle as the game went on and ended up costing themselves a point by being sloppy at the back. As for the defeat to Norwich, you can see why pundits are being asked if they fear for Newcastle. The Magpies losing heavily to one of the Premier League’s new boys is a little alarming, and you can’t argue that a defeat isn’t what they deserved. Newcastle only had 37% possession against the Canaries, as per the BBC, and were lacklustre at the back to the point where Norwich were able to carve out chances for fun. While the Magpies did manage to register 12 shots on Saturday, given the opportunities that the Newcastle players failed to convert, it did make you question whether Bruce had a clinical attacker to call upon at this moment in time.
