Wolves 2-1 Newcastle: Time to sack Steve Bruce before it's too late
Well, that was absolutely atrocious.
A 2-1 defeat to a Wolves side who never had to get out of second gear to beat us, leaving us 19th in the table and STILL without a win seven games into the new season.
After such a pathetic display and damning defeat, we head into the international break hoping the club finally see sense and sack Steve Bruce now they have two weeks to bring in a fresh face ahead of a clash with Spurs at St James' Park in 15 days time.
I'd be shocked if we did, as 'sense' and Mike Ashley don't go together, but even he must see us as a sinking ship unless something changes. I honestly believe we'll be a Championship club this time next year if we allow this to go on any longer and miss yet another opportunity to get rid.
Steve Bruce named an unchanged side for this one, picking the 11 who started last weekend's 1-1 draw at Watford.
A fair decision based on the fact we created more than enough chances to win last time out, however it didn't take him long to switch back to a five-man defence in this one.
That came after a promising opening few minutes - which saw us press well and push high up the pitch - turned into disaster when Hwang Hee-Chan got in behind after some good work from Jimenez and slid the ball past Darlow.
Our usually reliable stopper could've done better - he didn't do enough to narrow the angle and could've made himself bigger - but it was static defending at best and all too easy.
1-0 Wolves and a pretty awful first half performance until an unlikely equaliser arrived just five minutes before the break.
Few harboured much hope when an injured Joe Willock was replaced by Jeff Hendrick 35 minutes in, yet it was the Irishman who actually got us on level terms after firing past an injured Jose Sa - who'd just collided with Joelinton - from 20 yards.
Saying that, we weren't level for long. Just over 10 minutes into the second half we conceded yet another cheap goal which was all too similar to the first as our midfield were left for dead by Jimenez - who set up Hwang to score once again from an angle.
It was a good finish, but questions will be asked as to why Darlow was beaten so easily, with him appearing to get his angles wrong for both goals.
The final 30 minutes were painful. No idea where anyone was playing, shocking final ball, non existent build up play and Bruce taking off one of our most creative players in Almiron for Gayle - a player that relies on creativity behind him!
It must be said that Saint-Maximin had a huge chance to make it 2-1 before Wolves' second, but, in truth, we didn't deserve a thing from today. Alan Shearer summed it up well with this post-match tweet:
The players didn't perform today, but Bruce needs to go. It's been obvious for a long time and we'll never have a better chance to pull the trigger now the international break is upon us.
