Is it too early to judge? I fear not..
Is it time to make an early judgement!
We have only played two league games and, sadly, a relegation battle looks inevitable.
I wasn’t a huge fan of Perez, but you can't help but feel that we're going to miss his goal threat. Looking at the lack of threat Joelinton and Almiron have posed so far, it's worrying to think they are the two players replacing Perez and Rondon - two players who bagged 55% of our goals (25 combined in all comps) last season.
Watching Steve Bruce on the touch line, he doesn’t look to have a motivational presence or carry the belief of the players. Not only that, he's persisting with a formation that looks fundamentally flawed and is contradicting himself in interviews.
Tactically we don’t look good and it’s difficult to identify any positives. Joelinton looked worryingly poor. You can't help but feel we've bought nothing but potential with him. But is this what £40m really gets you in 2019?
Norwich was one of three teams I identified to finish below us at the end of the season, so it's pretty worrying the way they totally dismantled us. As it stands, it's hard to see there being three teams poorer than us. It's early days, but things need to change and fast if we're to get on track.
Steve Bruce was handicapped when he took the Newcastle job, with little support from the Toon faithful, so it was therefore essential the team had a positive start.
We have Spurs next week and based on this recent performance, you fear the worst. After two games the pressure is on and, unlike Benitez, there is little confidence that Steve Bruce will see it through. He looked a broken man in his post match interview and I haven't a clue what he sees in this 3-5-2. If he continues with it I'll be highly worried given how much we're struggling - both individually and as a collective. We look lost, frustrated and a team full of strangers.
So yes, for me - it is time to judge. I’ve seen enough to make me very fearful. We have decent players, but Bruce's tactics are non existent, fans are disgruntled and, as predicted by many, it hasn't taken long to return to the days of McClaren and co.
