Gary Neville does not expect Steve Bruce to revert back to Newcastle United’s defence-first football.
The Magpies opened up a little more to face Arsenal, with Bruce naming four at the back after declaring the gloves were off following a dismal performance against Sheffield United.
Whilst they managed to get more players into the box, Bruce’s side were barely able to lay a glove on the Gunners, who did not have to break sweat to ease to a 3-0 victory.
Yet, speaking on Sky Sports after the game, Neville said he thinks Bruce will persevere with his new set-up.
He said: “I think he’ll stick with the same plan realising that opponents in other games could be weaker than the one he’s played tonight.
“He’s not going to panic, he’s got longevity in the game, experience, he knew full well when he took this job that there was gonna come a period when he came under fire.
“At the start of last season, they thought they were gonna go down, that’s all I heard from Newcastle fans at the start of last season.
“There was real depression around the appointment of Steve Bruce because he managed Sunderland, etc.
"But there was a bit of surprise about how they did and this period was always going to come, Steve knew that, he is not going to panic when he’s here.
“He’s gonna stick to his job, get his players back on the training pitch and on Saturday night against Villa, they have another opportunity to try and win a football match.
“They will start to score goals if they play three or four strikers on the pitch like they did tonight.”
