After brutal defeat, Bruce admits: we got our backsides kicked

STEVE BRUCE has lamented the loss of a cutting edge which has seen Sunderland drop from Europa League hopefuls to possible relegation candidates, culminating in a disastrous 5-0 drubbing at Manchester City yesterday. The Black Cats' winless run stretched to seven games at Eastlands, and Bruce is aware that their current points tally of 38 may not be good enough to ensure Premier League football next season. Goals from Adam Johnson, Carlos Tevez, David Silva, Patrick Vieira and Yaya Toure condemned Sunderland to their biggest losing margin of the season. Bruce admitted: We haven't got enough points in the bag. We've been on an horrific run. We've played the top-six and found it very difficult over the last six games. We've now got the bottom six and Bolton in there, so it's up to us. From start to finish it was brutal. We were second best from the moment it started. We got what we deserved which is nothing, and got our backsides well and truly kicked. I won't sit here and try and make excuses. The disappointing thing for me is that we've given the big teams a game, especially away from home, and we were nowhere near doing that. When you come here you've got to play well and we had two or three who performed okay, but the rest I've got no excuses for. Bruce's plans were scuppered before kick-off, with injuries to Fraizer Campbell and Titus Bramble forcing the manager to reshuffle his pack. And, added to a 5-0 defeat, Bruce left Eastlands worrying if Bramble would play again this season. Bruce said: Titus had an op three months ago and never felt quite comfortable. He could miss the rest of the season. Fraizer twisted his knee in training on Saturday, and we're hoping it's not a recurrence of the injury he got against City in August. Phil Bardsley had an injection in his knee before the game and put his body on the line, but at this level you get found out. We've got to get back that resilience and what made us look like a good team. What I saw today was nowhere near that. We've lost that cutting edge.

Source: Northern_Echo