Bruce admits he made ‘awful’ decision yesterday

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Newcastle United boss Steve Bruce decided to start Danny Rose over Matt Ritchie yesterday.

Steve Bruce has admitted to Sky Sports Super Sunday that taking Matt Ritchie at the team was an ‘awful’ decision for him to have to make.

Ritchie was dropped by Newcastle for their match against Arsenal yesterday, with Danny Rose taking his place in the Magpies’ starting line-up.

Rose was only brought in at Newcastle in January, but Bruce seems to have plans to put the Tottenham Hotspur loanee into his starting line-up.

And Bruce admits leaving Ritchie out was a very difficult decision to make, as the Scot had been so important to his side over the first-half of the campaign.

“They are the decisions that are the awful ones,” Bruce said when asked why he left Ritchie on the bench.

“Since he’s come back into the team he’s performed very well over three or four months, but Danny is more natural to how we play.”

Ritchie did come on as a second-half substitute for Newcastle, but he was unable to stop them falling to a 4-0 defeat to Arsenal.

Rose didn’t actually manage to put in a particularly impressive display on his full debut, as he struggled to contain Arsenal’s attacking talent.

Whether Bruce will stick by the Tottenham loanee or bring back Ritchie after such a heavy defeat now remains to be seen.

Newcastle’s next match comes against Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park on Saturday.