Steve Bruce looking to press 'reset' button at Newcastle United after troubling Premier League run

After a positive December, United fell woefully short in the final week of 2019 as individual errors proved costly at Manchester United and in home games against Everton and Leicester City.

Following on from a festive period to forget for Bruce and the Newcastle players, he’s hoping a change of scenery – a trip to Rochdale in the third round of the FA Cup – will see an end to a worrying trend that has been costing points in the Premier League.

“We’ve had a bad week with injuries and individual errors. Last week’s individual errors have gifted goals and we have to be back to basics and do it right,” said Bruce.

“Errors – people don’t want to make them – but fatigue, tiredness, who knows? I expect us to improve on that.”

Bruce, who is looking to name a strong line-up against the League One side, continued: “We’ve had a bad week, a tough time. We were in it against Man United until we gave goals away, same last time. We can’t do it at the highest level with that frequency.

“We had the best chance of the game against Leicester and then the game’s suddenly gone.

“It’s been a bad week in the Premier League, it happens. This is a chance to progress and then we worry about Wolves next week.”