Steve Bruce reveals his view on 'remarkable' scrutiny at Newcastle United

Bruce's side beat Tottenham Hotspur 1-0 yesterday to get off the mark in the Premier League.

Joelinton scored the only goal of the game at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

There had been a backlash from fans after the previous weekend's 3-1 defeat to Norwich City at Carrow Road, and Bruce's tactics had been questioned were questioned by supporters and pundits alike in the build-up to the Tottenham game.

United's head coach changed the formation in North London – he went with a 4-5-1 formation – and his team produced a backs-to-the-wall performance to see off Mauricio Pochettino's side.

“We didn’t play well last week, and being Newcastle, everything gets scrutinised," said Bruce, who lost Allan Saint-Maximin to a first-half injury. "I was even answering questions on Friday about a warm-up. It’s quite remarkable.

"Some of what I’ve had to put up with is disappointing. I’ve managed something like 950 games now, so to be levelled that you can’t set a team up or tactically you’re this, that or the other, I find disappointing. That’s the right word. But you can only go and do what they’ve done (against Tottenham).

"Young (Christian) Atsu has only trained for three days. He got injured on June 6, so he hasn’t really trained a lot. I thought he came on for Allan (Saint-Maximin) and epitomised everything that was good about us."