Newcastle United held Wolverhampton Wanderers to a 1-1 draw at Molineux today, but it came at a cost as the Magpies lost Paul Dummett and Dwight Gayle to first-half injuries.

The duo joined the growing list of injured Newcastle players, and the club have now had 13 first-team members sidelined due to various knocks in recent weeks.

Jamaal Lascelles, Allan Saint-Maximin, Matt Ritchie, Javier Manquillo, Jonjo Shelvey, Fabian Schar, Jack Colback, and Joelinton are all crooked, and former Newcastle striker Michael Chopra has questioned Steve Bruce’s methods in a tweet.

Wonder what steve bruce does in training more players injured

— Michael Chopra (@MichaelChopra) January 11, 2020

Toons legend Alan Shearer has leaped to Bruce’s defence, though, shutting down Chopra with this brilliant reply:

A good result and well done Steve and the team. https://t.co/CrEf81m4Be

— Alan Shearer (@alanshearer) January 11, 2020

Chopra isn’t an admirer of Bruce and has always attacked the Newcastle boss whenever he has the chance to.

In August, he claimed that some senior players had told him that they didn’t know their roles under the head coach, tweeting thus back in September:

Starting to think, after watching that performance are the players really playing for Steve bruce what happened to the attacking football he wanted to play when he was appointed manager of my boyhood club #embarrassing #nufc

— Michael Chopra (@MichaelChopra) September 29, 2019

The result at Wolves, despite all the injuries, is commendable, and Bruce should be praised, not criticized.

Given the insane amount of games they have played since the beginning of the season and their lack of squad depth, injuries are inevitable, and Bruce will only hope it doesn’t disrupt his side’s campaign.

Newcastle could be forced to go into the transfer market this month as a result of their injuries, and that will go a long way in boosting their chances of finishing the season strongly.