It is one of football’s perceived wisdoms that you find out more about a player’s character when they are losing than when they are winning, but the same can also be said about managers. Step forward please Mr Roy Keane.
It is easy to be charming and positive when you are dealing with victories and it is simple to be calm and encouraging when you are regularly taking all three points. But the smiling, suave and sophisticated disguise can quickly disappear when results start turning against you.
Keane’s performances off the pitch have been just as impressive as his achievements on it since he became Sunderland’s manager, but will we begin to see a different side to him as the Black Cats struggle for points in the top flight?
Perhaps more significantly, will the players begin to see a different Keane as frustration and anger begin to boil up inside him and the throbbing, pulsating veins in his temple which symbolised his rage as a player become a more regular occurrence as he delivers another dressing room dressing down?
After all, not since November 1996, when Keane was in his pomp as a menacing midfield enforcer and Manchester United slipped to four successive defeats by Southampton, Fenerbahce, Chelsea and Juventus has the Irishman had to sample the bitter taste of defeat so regularly.
After an excellent opening-day victory over Tottenham Hotspur and a decent draw at Birmingham City, Sunderland have quickly realised just how tough the Premier League can be after three successive defeats.
But I don’t think Keane will change dramatically, certainly not at this stage. Of Sunderland’s three league defeats, only the away loss at Wigan can be considered a truly bad result. While nobody at the Stadium of Light would ever have conceded the issue, defeats by Liverpool and Manchester United can be excused by virtually every side in the top flight.
Upsets do still happen in English football, but they have become as rare as a day without a David Beckham bulletin on Sky Sports News!
Keane will be furious at a suggestion which implies losing to Manchester United and Liverpool is to be expected because he despises defeat, but he is also pragmatic enough to know that losses like these are easier to contend with than the one at Wigan.
As for the Carling Cup debacle against Luton Town, while woeful and humiliating, in the grand scheme of things it must be remembered that the League Cup was always going to be the least of the club’s priorities this season. Cue mutterings about “best to just concentrate on the league.�
And four points from five games is a decent start considering the fixtures Sunderland have played and there will not be any alarm bells ringing during an international break which has probably come at a good time for the Black Cats. The new arrivals can settle in and the players and staff can regroup ahead of the important home game against Reading.
The early indications are that Sunderland will struggle to score goals against the best defences in the country and that will inevitably cause them problems, but hopefully the arrival of Andy Cole and Kenwyne Jones will help in that department, starting against the Royals, a team who, last season, proved newly-promoted sides can sometimes exceed survival expectations.
Ultimately, however, it will be games against the Premier League’s rank and file which will determine Sunderland’s fate and while Keane insisted before the season began that survival was not his main objective, that he believed Sunderland could achieve far more than simply avoid relegation, it remains the keyword of their campaign.
A home win over Reading, who already look as though they will struggle a little more in their second season in the Premier League than they did in their first, will be another small step towards that goal.
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