Source: PA
Bruce expects Sunderland to cope with Carroll
Steve Bruce will send his defenders out against Liverpool on Sunday under orders not to allow Andy Carroll to ruin his day for the second time this season.
The Sunderland boss, by his own admission, suffered the worst day of his managerial career on October 31 last year when he took the Black Cats to arch-rivals Newcastle and saw the muscular striker batter them into submission.
Carroll did not score on the day, but he and partner Shola Ameobi terrorised the Sunderland defence as the Magpies romped to a 5-1 victory.
Casting his mind back to that disastrous afternoon at St James' Park, he said: "We didn't handle any of them - he didn't score, but we didn't handle any of them. We know all about him and the one thing about him is you have to physically stand up to him, and I am very confident that the lads we have got playing will be physically able to do that.
"In my day, there were, 10, 12 of them you could reel off, old-fashioned English centre-forwards. He has had a fantastic 18 months and I genuinely wish him well - after Sunday, of course.
"He's a throwback to the old days. We just hope we can defend well against him and play well against him, which we will have to because we know he's a handful."
