'I picked the wrong formation' – Steve Bruce explains his decision to stick with 4-4-2 in Newcastle United Premier League humbling

The Magpies were hammered 3-0 on home turf on Sunday by Graham Potter’s Seagulls as the manager opted to stick with the flat 4-4-2 and same personnel that caused West Ham United problems on the opening day.

And ahead of the Carabao Cup third round clash with Morecambe, in which Bruce is likely to make wholesale changes, the manager has attempted to explain his system decision.

“To be fair, late in the second half, Brighton went to a 4-4-2 so I think we all have to have a different formation. Of course, I knew it was going to be difficult against Brighton in a 4-4-2 but I thought we would cause them more problems playing that way,” said Bruce, whose side take on Tottenham Hotspur in the Premier League following their Mazuma Stadium visit tomorrow night.

"In hindsight, we got beat and I've picked the wrong team. That's normal. I picked the wrong formation. That's normal, too.

"That's always the difficult part of it and here in Newcastle, for example, it gets dissected more than most.

"You can pick whatever, certainly, but when you look at it individually and collectively, we didn't perform at all and that was across the board. When you get those types of games, you hope it's not that often, that's for sure.”

Bruce is still set to be without Fabian Schar and Paul Dummett, despite both returning to first-team training.