Same old story as Bruce names two main reasons for Newcastle loss
Newcastle boss Steve Bruce trotted out a familiar line as the Newcastle boss felt VAR was once again the culprit in his side’s 2-0 loss to Aston Villa.
The Magpies lost 4-2 at home to West Ham United in their Premier League opener. And any thoughts of an immediate bounce back were ended by a spectacular Danny Ings’ goal and Anwar El Ghazi’s penalty. It leaves the Tynesiders pointless and with only Norwich City below them in the table.
Bruce was incensed when the referee refused to look at the pitch side monitor in the Hammers defeat. It was the reverse on Saturday but the same negative outcome for Newcastle.
“Not going for us is it? We lost a game last week with a big talking point and today we feel aggrieved too,” he told BBC Match of the Day. “The same official is involved, last week we were crying out for the referee to have a look at the monitor, he didn’t and today he did.
“I thought VAR was for clean and obvious. The penalty for us, there were no lines drawn last week but there were this week, why? We are still talking about VAR.”
The north-east outfit rallied towards the end of 2020-2021 to finish 12th in the table. But, with Mike Ashley keeping a tight hold on the club’s purse strings, recruitment has been tough this summer.
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Joe Willock has arrived from Arsenal but the knives will be out following back-to-back losses. But Bruce does not believe that there was too much separating the sides at Villa Park.
“We had a decent start and a big chance but there were small margins between the teams, they got the big, key decisions at the right times,” he added.
‘Nothing in it’ for Bruce
Villa boss Dean Smith was unhappy with his side’s display in the victory. He felt his men could have played better but was happy with the result. Bruce felt it was a game of few chances and hinted that a draw would have been the correct result.
“It is always going to be difficult, we had sufficient chances, I cannot remember either goalkeeper making a save but we were a threat and did not take our chances especially Callum Wilson,” he added.
“Danny Ings scored a great bicycle kick but there was nothing in it.”
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