Newcastle United boss Steve Bruce has commented on Christian Atsu.
Newcastle United boss Steve Bruce has told The Chronicle that he hadn’t seen Christian Atsu in action before Sunday’s win over Tottenham Hotspur.
The Magpies produced a shock victory in North London, as club-record signing Joelinton pounced to smash home the only goal of the game.
The Brazilian showed great movement to get in behind the Spurs defence, but it was winger Atsu who picked out a fine assist from the left.
Atsu didn’t start the game, but was required to come off the bench early on as Allan Saint-Maximin went off injured, and Bruce picked Atsu as his replacement.
The Ghanaian made a great impact, picking out Joelinton for that goal whilst using his pace as a great outlet for Newcastle in a battling win.
The 27-year-old will hope to nail down a place in the team, especially with Saint-Maximin injured, and Bruce has now commented on the winger.
Bruce has admitted that he hadn’t even seen Atsu play before Sunday’s game, and the fact that he’d barely even seen him train before highlighted just how short his stint at Newcastle has really been so far.
“I had hardly seen him in training until the last couple of days of last week,” said Bruce. “It reminded me of the limited time I have been here – weeks! It’s just five weeks and amidst some of the nonsense it is easy to forget. I hadn’t seen Christian play so it’s good to see him,” he added.
Atsu had returned from a two-month absence through injury, meaning he missed the pre-season schedule, and the only time he’s played against Bruce before was a one-minute substitute appearance for Newcastle back in 2017 – and now he’ll be hoping to show his new boss what he can really do.
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