Bruce will demand consistency from Kenwyne Jones

Jul 27 2010 by Luke Edwards, The Journal

Kenwyne Jones is a vital part of Sunderland's frontline but he is as unpredictable as ever. Chief sports writer Luke Edwards looks at what can be done to bring out the best in the striker.

STEVE Bruce has a full head of hair which may surprise even himself given the number of times he has felt like tearing it out while trying to coax the best out of Kenwyne Jones.

You cannot change a person’s temperament. You cannot turn someone into something they are not, but how Bruce must wish he could wave a wand over Jones which will suddenly turn him into the snarling beast of a centre-forward he could be.

Jones is the epitome of laid-back and you would be hard pushed to find a calmer, more balanced character in a Premier League dressing room than the 25-year-old from Trinidad and Tobago.

A mercurial talent, he is a manager’s dream one game and his nightmare the next. On his day, Jones is unplayable in the air, and strong and quick on the ground. On others, he is ineffective and apparently disinterested.

At times, Jones is the player who makes Sunderland tick as an attacking force, a goal threat and a link-up man upon whom the rest of the team can feed off. At others he is anonymous.

There will always be players like him and they infuriate managers like no other. But if Bruce needs Jones, he needs them. For all of the talk of Liverpool’s interest last season he will not find a better club than Sunderland unless he finds the one thing that eludes him more than anything else – consistency.

Getting the best out of Jones is Bruce’s biggest challenge at the Stadium of Light because if he can do that on a more regular and consistent basis alongside Darren Bent, Sunderland will have a strike-force which can rival almost any other in the top flight.

“Kenwyne gave me food for thought playing at centre-back against Hull City the other night, but in all seriousness we just want him to find some consistency,” said Bruce with that air of exasperation that always accompanies his thoughts on Jones. “Kenwyne is Kenwyne.

“He can be unplayable. We all know what his attributes are, we just need to see them more often. That’s the important thing. We want to see Kenwyne Jones every week, not every two or three weeks.

“We need to see him performing week in, week out. We need to see that endeavour in his game a little more often than we have seen. He can be a wonderful player, but I want to see him do it more often.”