Cats boss Bruce is making case for defence

Aug 10 2009 by Stuart Rayner, The Journal

STEVE Bruce will step up his attempts to strengthen Sunderland’s defence this week after seeing last season’s back four given a tough time by Heart of Midlothian in their final pre-season fixture.

But with players scattered around the globe on international duty in the coming days and “nothing in the pipeline”, Bruce might have to wait until the new Premier League season is underway.

Portsmouth centre-back Sylvain Distin remains his top target, but the Corbridge-born manager confirmed his interest in Ghanaian John Mensah, and is also monitoring Lucas Neill.

Although David Obua was the only home player to find the net in Saturday’s 1-1 draw with Hearts at Tynecastle, Márton Fülöp was Sunderland’s best performer on the day and by far the busier of the two goalkeepers.

It was the big negative from a day when Darren Bent scored on his Black Cats debut.

Bruce was anxious not to lay all the blame at the feet of the back four, but admitted afterwards he needs to make his reshaped team harder to break down.

“I haven’t really targeted signings before Saturday but before the end of the window I would hope we can get a couple of players in,” Bruce admitted. “I realise we’re a bit short defensively.

“We haven’t got much in the pipeline at the moment but we’re still working extremely hard to try and improve.”