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STEVE Bruce has admitted for the first time that Europe is a realistic objective this season as Sunderland continue to defy their manager's cautious assessment of their potential.
Bruce has always been careful to keep expectation levels in check since he arrived on Wearside, as he does not want to become a victim of an inflated view of where the club should be in the league.
The former Manchester United skipper is still stung by the three-month slump last season which saw the Black Cats fall away from a potential European push into a brief flirtation with another relegation battle.
As a result, he is happy to be pessimistic when discussing his side’s targets, but the win over Chelsea last weekend and the vast improvement in the team’s results away from home are starting to change his opinion.
“This is a massive opportunity for us now,” he said. “It’s going to be difficult, but that’s the reason I came here. I do believe we’ve got a chance if we keep everyone fit.
“When I came here 18 months ago, the remit was to establish ourselves as a Premier club, forget this yo-yo stuff. This is our fourth year in the division and we’ve come to terms with it.
“My aim now is the top ten. Can we compete in Europe? Can we become a top-ten club? We’ve got a possibility with what we’ve got.
“We’ve got some good young players, the important thing is holding on to them and signing a couple more as well. My first aim is top ten – can we do that? And then see where we end up.”
Europe's the aim now for Sunderland
Nov 22 2010 by Luke Edwards, The Journal
previous 1 2
It says much about the frenzied, knee-jerk nature of modern football with its radio phone-ins and internet message boards, that Bruce was under pressure after the 5-1 defeat at Newcastle.
For all of the suffering that humiliation brought, Sunderland have come on in leaps and bounds under him and have drawn admiring glances from every team they have faced, with the exception of that debacle at St James’ Park.
Significantly, they have already played all of the sides that finished in the top ten last season
and have not lost to any of them. Manchester City and Chelsea have been defeated, neither Tottenham nor Liverpool could beat them on home soil, while Manchester United and Arsenal were happy to escape with a point from the Stadium of Light.
Bruce said: “Overall, apart from the Newcastle debacle, we’ve played very well.
“The big challenge now is the next ten games. They’ll define our season.
“The biggest thing the club and this region has to deal with is the expectation. We played very well against Chelsea, but that’s it. We repaired some of the damage from the Newcastle game.
“Now we’ve got a big opportunity. We’ve got Everton, Wolves, Fulham, Bolton.
“All of them are coming up and, hopefully, we can keep the level of performance that we showed against Chelsea.
“I’ve never been involved with a team that has played as well as we have against the top teams.
“There’s not been a fluke. Man City, Arsenal, Liverpool, Man United, Chelsea – not one game where we have fluked a result against them. He said: “I’ve never had a more crazy couple of weeks, from a fortnight ago when some people were writing to me wanting me out.
“In the 12 years I’ve been doing it, I’ve never gone from the biggest high, to the biggest low.
“It’s ridiculous, it really is. It’s the way management is.
“I’ve never counted my chickens, or got carried away when we’ve had a good result.
“We let ourselves down in one game, the biggest game for the region, but apart from that we have done well on the
STEVE Bruce has admitted for the first time that Europe is a realistic objective this season as Sunderland continue to defy their manager's cautious assessment of their potential.
Bruce has always been careful to keep expectation levels in check since he arrived on Wearside, as he does not want to become a victim of an inflated view of where the club should be in the league.
The former Manchester United skipper is still stung by the three-month slump last season which saw the Black Cats fall away from a potential European push into a brief flirtation with another relegation battle.
As a result, he is happy to be pessimistic when discussing his side’s targets, but the win over Chelsea last weekend and the vast improvement in the team’s results away from home are starting to change his opinion.
“This is a massive opportunity for us now,” he said. “It’s going to be difficult, but that’s the reason I came here. I do believe we’ve got a chance if we keep everyone fit.
“When I came here 18 months ago, the remit was to establish ourselves as a Premier club, forget this yo-yo stuff. This is our fourth year in the division and we’ve come to terms with it.
“My aim now is the top ten. Can we compete in Europe? Can we become a top-ten club? We’ve got a possibility with what we’ve got.
“We’ve got some good young players, the important thing is holding on to them and signing a couple more as well. My first aim is top ten – can we do that? And then see where we end up.”
Europe's the aim now for Sunderland
Nov 22 2010 by Luke Edwards, The Journal
previous 1 2
It says much about the frenzied, knee-jerk nature of modern football with its radio phone-ins and internet message boards, that Bruce was under pressure after the 5-1 defeat at Newcastle.
For all of the suffering that humiliation brought, Sunderland have come on in leaps and bounds under him and have drawn admiring glances from every team they have faced, with the exception of that debacle at St James’ Park.
Significantly, they have already played all of the sides that finished in the top ten last season
and have not lost to any of them. Manchester City and Chelsea have been defeated, neither Tottenham nor Liverpool could beat them on home soil, while Manchester United and Arsenal were happy to escape with a point from the Stadium of Light.
Bruce said: “Overall, apart from the Newcastle debacle, we’ve played very well.
“The big challenge now is the next ten games. They’ll define our season.
“The biggest thing the club and this region has to deal with is the expectation. We played very well against Chelsea, but that’s it. We repaired some of the damage from the Newcastle game.
“Now we’ve got a big opportunity. We’ve got Everton, Wolves, Fulham, Bolton.
“All of them are coming up and, hopefully, we can keep the level of performance that we showed against Chelsea.
“I’ve never been involved with a team that has played as well as we have against the top teams.
“There’s not been a fluke. Man City, Arsenal, Liverpool, Man United, Chelsea – not one game where we have fluked a result against them. He said: “I’ve never had a more crazy couple of weeks, from a fortnight ago when some people were writing to me wanting me out.
“In the 12 years I’ve been doing it, I’ve never gone from the biggest high, to the biggest low.
“It’s ridiculous, it really is. It’s the way management is.
“I’ve never counted my chickens, or got carried away when we’ve had a good result.
“We let ourselves down in one game, the biggest game for the region, but apart from that we have done well on the
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