Sunderland manager Steve Bruce believes lack of confidence is to blame for poor form
Sunderland manager Steve Bruce has bemoaned his side’s recent run of poor form, blaming injuries and a lack of confidence for their slide down the Barclays Premier League standings. Bruce’s comments come after Sunderland’s 3-2 home defeat to West Bromwich
Albion in the Premier League on Saturday.
Even though it doesn’t seem like the Black Cats are in any danger of being relegated this season, Steve Bruce believes his players need to start producing better performances, or they could just find themselves in the bottom three.
Sunderland threw away their first half advantage against West Brom to stumble to yet another defeat. The Black Cats have now lost five games at home this season, and Steve Bruce believes that a lack of confidence is the primary reason for that statistic.
Speaking after the match, the Sunderland boss said, “At the end of the day, we were sadly lacking in confidence in the second half. One thing I’ve learnt is to play here and to play well here you need people to handle the situation we’re in.”
He added. "There was a big demand on them and too many of them today were a bit anxious and weary sadly lacking a bit of confidence.”
Bruce claims that his side’s injury problems are also complicating things, something that can be readily seen after the Black Cats boss was forced to make changes at half-time. However, he refused to use injuries as an excuse for his side’s dismal showing
against the Baggies.
He said, “Again we had to make changes at half-time but I don’t want to be making that excuse, I’m tired of making that excuse. For some reason we went 15-20 minutes in the second half all over the place again which cost us.”
Sunderland are currently in 13th place in the Premier League standings. Though they are six points ahead of the bottom three teams, they will have to step up their game for the remainder of the season to quash any lingering fears of relegation.
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