Steve Bruce has hit back in Dwight Gayle after the ex-Newcastle United Striker claimed that his former manager “did not do a tactic”.
Gayle, who scored 34 goals in 122 performances for Newcastle, accused Bruce “throwing a few of the boys under the bus” in a match away to Manchester City and said that the manager did not give tactical advice when he and teammate Matt Ritchie asked for guidance.
Gayle, who left the club in 2022 after a period of six years in St James' Park and is now at Hibernian, also criticized Bruce's training methods and believes that the Magpies players had difficulty developing under his management.
“He was ok,” Gayle told the Podcast Open goal. “I felt that he did not spend enough time on many things with us. Maybe he tried to go game by game instead of developing us as a team. I think we could have improved many things.
“I remember that some of the boys were thrown in the man City Shift. We had a week of three games and the Gaffer threw some of the boys under the bus in terms of whom Man City had to play.
“Me and Matt Ritchie asked for weeks, months for tactical improvements. We came in during the break and we were two or three, and he was like:” guys, you keep asking tactics, I don't do tactics; do your boots and work hard. “
Bruce, who won 97 matches for Newcastle from 2019 to 2021, launched a fierce defense, while he questioned the performance of Gayle for the Magpies during their FA Cup quarter -final defeat against City in 2020, where the striker missed a huge opportunity against Pep Guardiola's team.
“Is that the legendary Dwight Gayle, who missed the chance against Manchester City in the quarterfinals? Is that the same Dwight Gayle? Interesting,” the current Blackpool boss told BBC Radio Lancashire.
“I have been near the block for a long time. I have only managed 1,050 games, but according to Dwight I don't know what I am doing.
“I will make other people think who are a little more than Dwight ever was.”
Comments