We are only halfway there – Bruce urges Newcastle to build on ‘platform’

Steve Bruce has warned his Newcastle players that they have done nothing yet as they attempt to complete a Premier League double over Manchester United.The Magpies head for Old Trafford on Boxing Day level on 25 points, three of them from a 1-0 home win over the Red Devils on October 6, the club for which Bruce played with such distinction for eight and a half years.Saturdays hard-fought 1-0 victory over Crystal Palace left Bruces men sitting in ninth place in the table, just three points shy of fifth but more importantly, 10 clear of the drop zone, although he is refusing to take anything for granted.The head coach said: Well look, you think youve done it all in the Premier League and then all of a sudden, weve got Manchester United, Everton and Leicester in a short period of time, difficult games.We havent done anything yet. Weve given ourselves a nice platform, but were only halfway there, so weve got to show the same resilience and spirit that weve shown over the last few months and see where it takes us.The most recent of Newcastles seven league wins to date, against Southampton and Palace, have come largely courtesy of perspiration rather than inspiration, but while Bruce knows performances need to be better if they are to kick on, he cannot fault the spirit his players have shown.He said: I cant fault their attitude and spirit for it because at the end of the day, we set them up and they have got to show theyre resolute, difficult to play against and difficult to beat. The way they are speaks volumes for them.That resilience is likely to be tested to the full by Ole Gunnar Solskjaers side as they attempt to bounce back from Sundays disappointing 2-0 defeat at bottom-of-the-table Watford with Bruce aware from personal experience what awaits visitors to Old Trafford.He said: Theyre going through a transitional period which has probably lasted longer than anybody would have thought, three, four, five managers and now Oles got the job, trying to follow Sir Alex and what he achieved.That transitional period is difficult because its taken so long and its still going on by the looks of it. But make no mistake, theyve still got some very, very good young players and it will only be a matter of time, in my opinion, before theyre pushing in the right away again.(function(i,s,o,g,r,a,m){i['GoogleAnalyticsObject']=r;i[r]=i[r]||function(){
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