Source: Team_Talk
Bruce admits to Cats frustrations
Sunderland boss Steve Bruce has admitted that he will end his first campaign on Wearside with mixed feelings.[LNB] The Black Cats head for struggling Hull on Saturday sitting 13th in the Premier League table and having been set the task of dragging themselves in to the top 10 in their remaining three games.[LNB]That would represent a reasonable return on owner Ellis Short's investment and the hard work put in by Bruce and his players - but they will all know it could have been so much better.[LNB]Bruce said: "We have done okay, I wouldn't want to say anymore than that at the moment.[LNB]"I am disappointed after the season we have had because it could have been so different.[LNB]"Five times we have conceded in the last couple of minutes - that's 10 points, and when you think we are only a couple of points behind 10th, it's what might have been.[LNB]"However, we have still got a chance, with three games to go, to finish 10th.[LNB]"If I am being honest, from a team that was nearly relegated last year, I think there has been an improvement."[LNB]After the club flirted with relegation in each of the previous two seasons, Short and chairman Niall Quinn challenged their new manager to banish that anxiety this time around and for the foreseeable future, and that mission has been accomplished.[LNB]The long-term aim is to establish the Black Cats in the upper half of the table, and then to make an assault on the top eight, although that is a process which Bruce admits could take some time.[LNB]He said: "All of that top eight have been in there since day one.[LNB]"There have been 12 teams making up the rest - there have been something like 46 different teams in the Premier League and there are six or seven of them in League One now, so it's very difficult.[LNB]"We are at a difficult stage and they take some catching, these teams. They are very established with great tradition, great history, great supporters.[LNB]"But that's the challenge and we have got to try if we can. It will be hard though, very difficult.[LNB]"But there's no timescale. We have now completed three years in the Premier League, so now we want to complete another three or five or another 10, and then we will see where we are after that."[LNB]Hull could effectively be relegated on Saturday if the Black Cats win at the KC Stadium and 17th-placed West Ham make the most of home advantage against Wigan.[LNB]However, that would require the Black Cats to do something they have not managed since the opening day of the season.[LNB]Sunderland have not collected three points on the road since Darren Bent's debut goal at the Reebok Stadium on August 15 handed them victory over Bolton - indeed, they have managed just four from a possible 48 since - and Bruce knows that record has been even more costly than their 14-game winless mid-season run.[LNB]He said: "You can talk about the winter, but that has been our huge downfall, if we are being honest - and I will have to look at myself too.[LNB]"Have we been a little bit too gung-ho? Is that being a bit unrealistic away in the Premier League? Maybe so.[LNB]"All those things, I will analyse and make sure we are better next year."
