■ Sunderland boss lays out his demands

■ Disappointment after Carling Cup exit

■ Cats fail to build on big displays

HE may have given his Sunderland players a reminder of what he is demanding from them this season, but Steve Bruce admits he has had to stop short of reading the riot act.

Bruce found it difficult to come to terms with last Saturday’s cheap surrender at Birmingham City, having claimed four points from matches with Liverpool and Manchester United.

His mood was hardly helped on Tuesday night either, when he looked on in disbelief as his players missed four spot-kicks during the course of the evening to be dumped out of the Carling Cup by Aston Villa on penalties.

Bruce, however, does not feel his players deserve him to be over-critical of their performances, having started the season in decent form and knowing a victory over West Ham tomorrow could lift Sunderland level on points with fourth-placed Tottenham.

“I have tried to ram the message home. We have got all the analysis, all the technology to do it.

“It (Birmingham) just was not acceptable. We were far, far and way, way down on every level of where we were against Liverpool and Man U,”

said Bruce. “There were eight or nine of them who were below par. But you also have to look after yourself and say ‘OK, did I prepare them properly?

Did I do enough?’ “You run through all sorts of stuff. But I also have to keep reminding myself that if we can beat West Ham, we will have 19 points from ten games. Then out of 12 or 13 games we have played, you are only talking about Birmingham and a half against Burnley that were not good enough.

“It is difficult at Stoke for any team, I can erase that one.

So it is not a bad return. If we keep up the same level of points throughout the season, we would comfortably finish in the top ten and possibly even Europe. That is the challenge.

Can we keep it up?”

While he attempted to stay away from going into the finer details of his dressing room, dressing downs to his players, Bruce did insist he is not afraid to show his tougher side.

“If I have to do it, I will do it. But I will never make it public, as simple as that,” he said.

“It is part of the job unfortunately.

But if you slip below your standards in any walk of life, you deserve a bollocking.

“Make no mistake, I want everyone to come into work to try to make sure they enjoy themselves, that it is a good place to come. However, if you are not prepared to do it properly, I will stamp on it, simple as that.

“Since I have been here, I have lost my temper, two, three, maybe four times. But you lose it over the silliest of things, not just because players need a bollocking after games. It can be being late and things like that. Not just bad performances.”

Bruce’s determination to return to winning ways against West Ham at the Stadium of Light tomorrow has been dented slightly by the injuries sustained this week.

But while he is almost certainly without left-back George McCartney, who sustained a knock to his hip on Tuesday night, he looks destined to be able to call on Darren Bent.

“It is a shame George keeps getting a little niggle or a knock,” said Bruce. “If it had been a muscle or strain that kept happening, that would be different.”

Bent trained yesterday morning and the signs are that he will figure against the Hammers.

Despite a lack of depth to his squad, though, Bruce still feels he made the right decision to reduce his playing staff in the summer.

“I always knew when the transfer window closed we would be a little bit light,” he said.

“But it was my decision and I would rather trim down the squad and have to use a couple of young players every now and again, than have another ten senior players being disgruntled and not involved.”