Steve Bruce suffering worst run of form ever

Feb 8 2010 by Mark Douglas, The Journal

A nervy Stadium of Light made their feelings clear at half-time and full-time and Bruce believes that his players must learn to cope with the raised level of expectation at the club.

With his previously reliable midfield engine room of Lee Cattermole and Lorik Cana struggling for form, the Black Cats boss desperately needs others to step up and prove their worth.

A fine performance by Kenwyne Jones was encouraging, and the Sunderland boss is calling for others to follow his lead.

“Whoever comes in and has this job, the one thing they’re going to have is the big expectant demand of the supporters,” he said.

“The team and the manager have got to be able to handle that, that’s for sure. Because to be able to play here, you’ve got to be a big player, that’s for sure.

“That’s not going to change. We need big players to handle the occasion. Second half we were a bit better. But the first half, let’s be fair, was awful.

“I said to the players at half-time we can’t fault your effort and endeavour, but you must have courage. There are two types of courage, the one that you get a cut when you go for a challenge or the other type when you ask for the ball. That’s what we must do better, take the ball and not be afraid.”

The loss of Henderson was a huge blow and Bruce admitted he will be missing for “months rather than weeks”.

“I hope it’s not the end of his season, for his sake and for ours,” he said. “He’s had a terrific start, but the kid was in a bad way when I saw him. We’ll keep our fingers crossed and hope he’s okay.”

Bruce (right) hinted there would be changes for the trip to Portsmouth, with Benjani set for a full debut at his former club and Steed Malbranque also lined up for a return to the team.

“We’ll have to try something different, that’s for sure and we’ll start on Tuesday,” he said. “The one thing I can look at is changing the personnel and I’ll probably look at freshening things up so that at least we haven’t got that as an excuse.

“We’ve got a huge big game coming up. We’ve got people who are champing at the bit to play and maybe I’ll look at that too.”