Steve Bruce has stated he wants his Sunderland side to improve defensively if they want to avoid Premier League relegation, but injuries to key players from his back four is not helping the cause.
The Black Cats have struggled in recent weeks and have only kept one clean sheet since the turn of the year and as anyone who follows the football betting will know it’s hard to win games when you’re shipping goals.
As a result Sunderland have dropped down the table and, after their loss to West Brom at the weekend, they are now only six points above the Premier League relegation places.
Sunderland had 11 clean sheets prior to the start of 2011 and Bruce claims it is “easy to see where the problem lies” at this point in time, and his eyes are firmly rooted on his defenders.
What is not helping is defenders succumbing to injuries, with John Mensah the latest to be hit. The Ghana international tore a groin muscle in the West Brom game and looks to be out for at least three weeks.
With Anton Ferdinand also limping off, and Titus Bramble still out with injury, it means Bruce has a shortage of defenders going into their relegation six-pointer with Birmingham at the weekend and the Premier League betting offers suggest the game will be crucial to both sides’ futures.
The boss told the Shields Gazette: “If you look at the stats, we’ve conceded almost as many goals in the last eight games as we did in the rest of the season put together.
“That’s not good enough, and we have to put it right. We have to go back to basics and return to the way we were playing earlier on in the season.”
At least Bruce is seeing his forward options returning to fitness, with Danny Welbeck back and Fraizer Campbell close to returning after a long injury lay-off.
These two can take some pressure off Asamoah Gyan and hopefully get the goals to ensure Sunderland do not get sucked deeper into a Premier League relegation dogfight over the coming weeks.
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