Bruce demands defensive improvements

Sunderland boss Steve Bruce has challenged his players to put their bodies on the line to halt their run of Barclays Premier League defeats. The seventh-placed Black Cats head for Everton having lost each of their last three games and in danger of being reeled in by the chasing pack. A lengthy injury list and a series of fixtures which handed the club difficult home clashes with Champions League rivals Chelsea and Tottenham either side of a tough trip to Stoke are mitigating factors. And with Arsenal, Liverpool and Manchester City waiting in the wings, Bruce knows that things could get even tougher in the weeks ahead. However, he insists a new-found fragility at set-pieces rather than Darren Bent's departure for Aston Villa last month - Sunderland have taken only three points from a possible 12 since the striker's £24million exit - is to blame for their recent slide. As a former central defender himself, Bruce believes the solution is obvious, even if it means a few painful afternoons for his players. He said: "I don't think it has got anything to do with Darren going. We scored twice against Chelsea, we scored two at Stoke, we scored against Tottenham, we scored two at Blackpool. Darren Bent was never going to defend set-pieces for us, never. We have conceded seven goals in our last eight games from set-pieces. "In the 21 games previous to that, we had conceded six, so you don't have to be a rocket scientist to see what we have tried to work on all this week. But it is very difficult to replicate it. If you try to put a ball in and go and defend set-pieces, people get hurt - if you do it properly. Unfortunately, we haven't had too many hurt just lately, so that tells me one or two things."

Source: PA