Manager’s Reaction

By Nick Raynor
November 6 2005

Here are the thoughts of Steve Bruce and Graeme Souness after Newcastle’s lucky 1-0 victory over Birmingham.

Emre’s 78^th minute goal gave Newcastle a narrow victory after Maik Taylor made a mistake in the Birmingham goal.

 

Birmingham struck the post from 40 yards and Upson had a header just go wide but against the run of play, Newcastle won the game.

 

Souness said:

 

"It was a difficult game for us,"

 

"They came with a gameplan to frustrate us - one up front, they loaded the midfield.

 

"We played lots of lovely football at West Brom but not this week. These are games we've got to win and we got the result.

 

"The crowd played their part. Steve Bruce knows it - the crowd can be frustrated - but they stayed with us throughout and we deserved to win because we tried to win the game.

 

"There's a couple of things - we showed resilience today; we kept wanting the ball and the crowd stuck with us. They won't be the first to try and frustrate the crowd but they stayed with us. Steve Bruce is a Geordie, he knows all about the football club and knows in the past when teams frustrate us, the nervousness spreads from the stands onto the pitch. It didn't today.

 

"It wasn't a good game but we got the points and we've got to win games like that. We did the ugly things today.

 

"I've got some special players and it just takes one to hit a free kick in or do something special to get you a goal, and that's how it turned out."

 

"I think there's two ways to look at it,"

 

"We could have done better but give them some credit too.

 

"I think what you're looking at is are players giving everything for their manager and that was certainly the case today. They had a lot of players who weren't fully fit - Muzzy Izzet and Stan Lazaridis. And the players are with him - as long as they are with him, I'm sure they'll be fine.

 

"They didn't threaten too much but they did frustrate us. It would work on another day and they'd nick something.

 

"I think it's our sixth clean sheet and Shay Given is happy with that. We're defending well but we're far from the finished article. You saw two Newcastles in the space of seven days. Some fabulous football at West Brom and a team that could scrap today so it's six points from two games."

 

Steve Bruce said:

 

"It's very difficult to know what to say because I don't think I've been associated with a team that have had such a comfortable afternoon up at Newcastle,"

 

"I thought overall, from start to finish, the way we passed it, frustrated them, worked hard - we stuck to the gameplan.

 

"If you don't score, it's always capable of something like that hitting you but it's unjust.

 

"Close is not good enough but they've done everything you can ask of them. I'm proud of them, they were magnificent and they've got to keep believing. It's difficult at the moment due to the circumstances but they played with freedom and played well.

 

"What can I say? I feel harshly aggrieved. We have had penalties given away from home that were softer than when Shola Ameobi got Neil Kilkenny by the shirt. No question but we didn't get the decision.

 

"The manner of the goal disappointed me. Not to pick Jermaine Pennant out with his throw, then he knows he [Taylor] should do better. At this level, you can't let a goal in through the middle of the goal. It looked like it deflected to me but obviously not.

 

"We played well and on another day we could have won. Muzzy Izzet's had his first 80 start for nigh on 13 months and had 80 minutes. With the emergence of him and big players like Stan Lazaridis, Mikael Forssell and David Dunn - we must believe. I believe we're good enough to get out of this mess.

 

"I'll make sure I can do all I can to make sure we get away from it."