Watch Newcastle United vs Manchester United on Sunday from 4pm, live on Sky Sports Premier League
Friday 4 October 2019 22:46, UK
Steve Bruce admits Newcastle had their "backsides kicked" by Leicester but says playing in front of a full house against Manchester United on Sunday could be the perfect way to bounce back.
The Magpies were thrashed 5-0 at the King Power last weekend, collapsing after Isaac Hayden's second-half red card, with the result leaving them 19th in the Premier League table.
Newcastle, who sprung a surprise victory at Tottenham earlier in the season following a similarly limp display at Norwich, will hope for another response when they welcome Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's side to St James' Park, live on Sky Sports.
Manchester United are also in poor form having have made their worst start to a Premier League season after seven games since 1989.
Bruce was at the heart of that United side 30 years ago, and thinks it is "a wonderful time to play them".
"Whoever we are playing, it is about what we do. Especially after last week," he said.
"They might not be the Man United of the past but they've still got some very good players. We are going to have to be at our best and a lot better than we were last week.
"I am hoping we show a response to the supporters because we let everyone down last week.
"It is a wonderful time to play them because it will be a full house, live on the TV. If ever we needed to bounce back against anybody, what better way than against them."
Bruce has urged his players to show "a certain degree of pride" about themselves after their heavy defeat at Leicester and is not fazed by the added scrutiny that he has faced personally in the last week.
"There should be a few words when you get as badly as we did," Bruce said. "What we have to do is respond and look to the next game to erase it.
"Enough has been said on it, we were very disappointed. We had our backsides kicked.
"Mud has been thrown my way since I walked through the door, that's not going to change. The only thing that can change it for me is results.
"I'm determined, if I possibly can, to turn it around and take the club forward. That has been my remit since I arrived.
"I'm a resilient so and so. You wouldn't be human if it didn't affect you in some sort of way but you try and get on with your job as best you can.
"These days you don't get the time that you would like to get, you have to get results instantly.
"The flack always stops with me at the top of the tree but that's the way the job is."
Bruce says his players are not "capable" of playing the way he wants them to, and admits they might have to shut up shop when they face Manchester United on Sunday.
He said: "Looking at the way the team is happiest, you'd say we'll play with five at the back, with two No 10s and we'll sit deep and play on the counter-attack, which is exactly what we did when we played against Tottenham.
"We changed for that game, and we changed because that is the way they had played for six months at the back end of last season, when results were better.
"The two or three times I've tried to change us, including Brighton at home and Norwich, where we started with a 5-3-2 and played three in the middle of the park, it didn't really work.
"I quickly worked out at Norwich that we didn't have the players with the capability to play the way I'd envisaged."
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