Luckily for Sunderland, Steve Bruce's actions speak louder than his lack of words

By Stan Collymore

Published 22:52 18/10/09

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Steve Bruce disappointed me again at the weekend by failing to turn up as promised for an interview.

Sunderland manager Bruce was annoyed with me for my criticisms of him for giving David Beckham the man-of-the-match award for England.

We disagreed strongly over his decision as Beckham had only come off the bench in the second half at Wembley against Belarus.

Bruce subsequently rang in to talkSPORT to explain his actions and promised he would come on my 'Call Collymore’ phone-in on Saturday after the Liverpool game.

Yet he didn’t, despite the hosts winning, and I’d still be waiting for him now if the show hadn’t ended.

All you expect is people to stick to their word.

I was hoping to hear from the Sunderland manager about their fantastic performance and victory against Liverpool.

Yet Bruce didn’t bother to walk up the 15 steps to come and discuss the Sunderland game - not Beckham.

So I will leave it to fans to draw their own conclusions from that.

I do however salute Bruce for turning Sunderland into possible European contenders.

New striker Darren Bent looks impressive, but it was strike partner Kenwyne Jones who caught my eye.

His strong running and hold-up play was a constant menace to Liverpool.

And I just wish he was English, for while Bent took his tally to eight goals, I don’t think the forward has the talent and all-round play to lead the line for England.

So if Emile Heskey continues to rarely start for Aston Villa, I think there is a strong argument for having a look at Bolton’s Kevin Davies in a friendly.

His old-school play and physical threat could be a good foil for Wayne Rooney.

I am not convinced by Davies’ claims but he certainly deserves a chance, as I do not believe either Peter Crouch or Carlton Cole are the answer.