Steve Bruce insists Sunderlandâs players have a spring in their step to ensure the summerâs promise isnât derailed. The Black Catsâ squad has been in training for the past two days at the Academy of Light in preparation for tonightâs Carling Cup second round tie at Brighton, with Saturdayâs derby defeat still fresh in the memory. Flak has inevitably come the way of Bruce and his players following the 1-0 loss after a close season which promised so much with the arrival of 10 new signings. Bruce knows Sunderland must respond in a similar manner to last seasonâs loss against the Magpies, which sparked a four-game unbeaten run, and has been encouraged by the early signs from his players. âYou can sense their disappointment and the determination to put it right was pretty evident in training yesterday,â Bruce told the Echo. âI hope we can do that tonight, and weâll have to, because itâll be a really tough game. âWe had a wonder feel-good factor around the whole place over the summer. Weâve lost a game and weâve lost it against our local rivals. âBut we canât let that derail what weâre trying to do here. We have to accept the defeat and the criticism which goes with it. âThe only thing we can do is win the fans over again. Last year we did it and we need to do it again.â Bruce feels some of the post-match criticism of Sunderland has been unfair after the hosts dominated the opening 45 minutes against the Magpies. But he accepts Sunderland paid the price for failing to make their pressure count, with the Black Cats lacking a cutting edge in the box. Bruce added: âWeâve got to erase what happened at the weekend, which is never easy in the North East, and get ourselves up and running again. âNobody is going to tell me any different that we murdered them in the first half. But we needed to score. âHow many times have we seen it in the Premier League that if one side dominates and doesnât take their chances, then you can fall down? âYou donât make four or five six chances in each half like you will in any other league. Thatâs why the strikers are paid so much money to stick it in the back of the net.âUnfortunately, no matter how many times we got down the sides of them, we couldnât capitalise. âMy judgment is not going to be clouded. Iâve seen all the talk in the papers that Newcastle thoroughly deserved it and itâs nonsense. âWe gave a bad goal away and it cost us in a derby game. âThe only thing we can do is respond in the right manner and thatâs winning this cup tie tonight and getting a result at Swansea on Saturday Suggest you go and try and find one who can do it then...you've only got a few days of the transfer window left.
I think hes right about the paper crack, theres no way they fully deserved the win but thats football and we only have ourselves to blame for not burying our chances or creating more from the good positions we got into. I'm glad Bruce is saying these things because if half the people on here were in charge I think they would have just given up on the season already by the sound of it. I would play Gyan tonight, he needs game time and a goal but I would still like another goal threat in before the window shuts. At present Gyan/Sess/Larrson are the only threat and we need more players who are able to score.
What a muppet Bruce is. I like how he's completely overlooked the fact that that Larsson blocked one of our goalbound headers with his arm and got away with it. It should have been 0-1 at half time, and the fact that we eventually got that free kick goal made up for it. It would have been shocking if we'd lost considering what Larsson did. Awful sportsmanship.
Westwood to play, also Gardner...Cook in the squad.. http://www.safc.com/news/20110823/bruce-to-field-strong-team_2256213_2428887
If he's fielding mostly his starting EPL squad he has to be real careful of injuries and fatigue. I know Brighton are a good side but even your second-string team should have enough oomph. Also very surprised to see Gardner reduced to sub-appearances and cup games so far. I always thought he was intended to be a starter.
Down to the form of Colback perhaps? Bruce obviously likes the lad. I dunno really. Haven't watched enough mackem games (apart from the derby of course).
Well I guess it wouldn't be the first time Bruce had made a decision which has left some folk scratching their heads. Unless of course Bruce has seen something in training which he didn't like. How did Gardner play when he came on during the derby? I was paying too much attention to our team to notice. Without a shadow of a doubt. He even moved his arm slightly to meet it, and then ran off to the ref claiming it hit him in the head
I don't even remember him coming on... Think I was busy counting all of my mags mates winnings from my wallet.
To be fair Chappaz, I back what Bruce is saying you were out played in the first half, the second half was more even and a fair result would have been a draw. Yeah Larsson is really an awful sportsman, may I draw you mind back to a game at St James a couple of years back, Sunderland leading 1-0 thanks too Cisse only for a truly awful dive in the area by no other Steve Taylor who game finishes 1-1 and we were robbed.
I honestly think a fair result was a Newcastle win... They scored. We didn't. What was it Terry 'Yoda' Venebles said... "I'm a firm believe that in order to win a game of football you have to score more goals than your opposition. That said our performance in regards to build up was decent, if we don't score... We won't win though.
Correct he got away with it.........Blame the ref.. But we don't really want to talk about deliberate handballs do we.... [video=youtube;vl3HnU0HOhk]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vl3HnU0HOhk[/video]
