Newcastle players don't look like they enjoy playing for Steve Bruce, insists Craig Bellamy - but Simon Jordan tells fans to lower expectations

The Magpies lost 2-1 at home to Leeds on Tuesday night, a result leaves them 16th in the Premier League and without a win in eleven games.

That has led to calls for Bruce to be sacked and even resign, although the veteran boss remains confident he can keep Newcastle in the Premier League.

Craig Bellamy, who remains a popular figure among Toon supporters, believes his former side's current playing style under Bruce is not helping them turn the corner in the short term.

He told Jim White: "I'm not a huge fan of teams having so little of the ball. There's only one football out there and I want to dominate that ball.

"They sit back a lot and maybe Steve Bruce with his experience [in the game] thinks that's the best way to go about against teams better than his.

"But how do you turn it around then when you want to have loads of the ball against teams who you feel you're better than when the players are so used to sitting back? You've got to change your mentality very quick.

"You need a certain group of players then to be able to do that. We didn't play the game as young kids watching the other players have the ball, and that's just defending deep and you can just enjoy it and I can just sit here and defend.

"You want to work hard, of course you do, but as Brian Clough said if you have plenty of the ball and you work really, really hard then you're going to enjoy it.

"It just looks to me some of the players at Newcastle at the present moment, by those habits of not really having, don't seem to be enjoying it and you need to change that quick."

Bellamy continued: "For a club like Newcastle, especially over the past 10 to 12 years, they've had a lot of lows and very, very few highs.

"They've been relegated a few times, and when you really think of a club like Newcastle, it just leaves you in shock.

"They're so passionate about the game there. They probably love the club too much. You look at the stadium as well, it's a cathedral, you can see it from all parts of the city.

"That's the church, that's where they go, that's where they socialise. They live for it every single day. If you're a Newcastle fan, it's a rollercoaster. And an amazing rollercoaster as well.

"I believe they've got enough players and enough quality to survive. It's about what you do against the teams in and around you - because that's the way they're set up."

Speaking on the same show, Simon Jordan expressed his view that Newcastle fans' expectations continue be too lofty.

Jordan explained: "What was the Newcastle fans' reaction to Pardew? Pardew got them into the top five and what happened to him?

"[Mike] Ashley gave him an eight-year contract which was ridiculous… but they'd have Pardew back now wouldn't they?

"The Newcastle fans wanted Pardew and they'll give me a thousand reasons why as it's there football club.

"From an outside point of view looking at it, talk to Graeme Souness, talk to people who have managed that football club.

"Everyone talks about the expectation at that football club. The moment you say that Newcastle fans reply 'We don't have any expectations, we just want a decent side'.

"At the end of the day you've achieved very little, you're just a big football club in a community."

Craig Bellamy believes some Newcastle players are not enjoying playing for the club amid a torrid run of form which has seen Steve Bruce's position come under increased scrutiny.