Reports have claimed that Bruce could be facing the sack, due to the Black Cats’ recent poor run of form.
Sunderland travel to Arsenal on Saturday.
“I understand [the pressure]. I’m six months into the job and you do hope you are given time,” he said.
“I said at the start I hope that the people I work for, and I’m truly convinced they are, are sensible enough to say ‘hang on a minute let’s judge the fella and give him a bit of time’.
“We need to win a game but I’m the same manager that got the club off to the best start in 35 years.
“Now we are on an awful run – it can happen, this is the Premier League.”
He added: “The way football is now it is my turn at the minute, we haven’t won in 12 games and it is there for everybody to see.
“In those 12 we have drawn six so we’ve been close, we’ve conceded four times in the last five minutes and that has cost us.
“If that happens to you once in a season you tear your hair out but it has happened four times.
“We do know we are close but unfortunately it hasn’t quite happened. The one thing you do have to remain positive and hopefully get out of it.”
