Steve Bruce bites back at 'mass hysteria' from Newcastle United fans

Bruce was speaking after last night’s 2-0 Premier League defeat to Manchester City.

United’s head coach praised his players for their “effort, application and attitude” at the Etihad Stadium, where Ilkay Gundogan and Ferran Torres were on target for Pep Guardiola’s side.

The game had followed a disappointing Carabao Cup defeat to the Championship club at the Brentford Community Stadium on Tuesday night.

“We lacked a little bit of quality in the final third, and have given the ball away for the second goal, but I couldn’t fault their effort, application or attitude towards the game,” said former Sunderland manager Bruce.

"There’s been a lot of criticism of the way we limped out of the cup, so the one thing you need is a response. It was always going to be difficult coming here, but I couldn’t have asked for any more in terms of the commitment and attitude shown by them.”

There were calls from some fans for Bruce to be sacked following the Brentford game.

Asked if the criticism which had followed the cup defeat had been over the top, Bruce added: “I’ll let other people judge that. We had a bad week, but some of the mass hysteria, in my opinion, was unfair. A lot of it was not right, in my opinion. I’m probably going to say that, but that’s my opinion on it.”

Newcastle take on Liverpool at St James’s Park on December 30.