Premier League: Newcastle’s Steve Bruce for Manager of the Year Award

This post-match interview after United and Tottenham’s wins gives a further example of what Steve Bruce is about.

For most matches, Bruce has employed a 5-4-1 formation and has dared almost everyone to come at them. His team’s goal is to frustrate opponents into fatigue, mistakes, and submission. He has used the only tactics that have been available to him.

This has to lead to the Magpie’s most important statistic and the one that sets Steve Bruce apart from all other Premier League managers this season.

According to understat.com, Newcastle is third in the league in stopping their opponents from converting goal chances and fourth in the league (by a wide margin over the fifth team) in converting their goal chances into actual goals.

In other words, Bruce’s club is outperforming others by wide margins in what is expected of them, in regards to scoring and keeping their opponents from scoring. Furthermore, there is only one other team in the Premier League that is in the top five in both categories besides Steve Bruce’s club. It’s Leicester City.

From an analytics standpoint, only one manager in the Premier League has had their team outperform on the pitch from their expectations so heavily. Steve Bruce.