After The High Comes The Low

A defeat at Champions-elect Chelsea can be excused, but two successive reverses has wasted the impetus gained from the Newcastle victory. All very well winning your first Wear-Tyne derby in 28 years - and of course it was worthy of celebrating - but there is always a worry a great result like that will lead to a slump and it has.

Just ask Tottenham fans. Won the Carling Cup against Chelsea and then struggled to win a game of any sort for the rest of the season, meaning Juande Ramos, a hero in March, has been given the chop and labelled a chump by the same players who were guilty of going through the motions under him.

As far as Sunderland are concerned, suddenly, the home game against Portsmouth takes on extra significance. Lose that one and for all of the talk of a stronger squad and moving on to the next level, Keane's side could be in the bottom three. When you have spent as much as he has over the summer, that really isn't a good position to be in.

Sunderland were, make no mistake, dreadful against Stoke and they were humiliated and mocked after the Chelsea hammering. Whatever confidence came with the derby win will have vanished and question marks are starting to surface regarding Keane's team selection. He has never found a settled side and changes his strikers around like most of us change our socks.

Nevertheless, it is also important Sunderland supporters do not start to suffer from the same knee jerk reactions which can turn normally sensible football people into snarling terrace critics.

Keane - albeit armed with the Drumaville Consortium's cheque book - has always talked about gradual, sustainable success and two defeats does not mean the Wearsiders are moving in the wrong direction.

It has , however, been a bad week and if things get worse against Pompey, Sunderland will discover how quickly bad runs can turn into a mini crisis. Keane hasn't had one of those before and it will be interesting to see how he copes. I suspect his players would do well to remove the crockery from the dressing room just in case. There is nothing like a flying tea cup to get the message across is there!

Finally, while I'm not suggesting for one moment that Sunderland's season has suddenly turned into a disaster it is worth pointing out that two weeks ago I - and many others - suggested the balance of power in North East football had shifted firmly in Sunderland's favour after the derby win.

The gap between the Black Cats and the Magpies had grown to six points and Sunderland had the feel of a club with some momentum behind it. However, if Newcastle beat Aston Villa on Monday night they will go back above the Wearsiders on goal difference and they haven't even got a permanent manager!

Given the continued uncertainty in the Newcastle boardroom you would still argue Sunderland have more reason to be optimistic about what the future will bring, but is Keane facing a tougher examination of his managerial credentials than ever before? I think he probably is...

WHAT DO YOU THINK?

Apologies to anyone trying to comment on these blog entries.

The Captcha system is down at the moment, but if you'd like to leave a message e-mail me direct at luke.edwards@ncjmedia.co.uk.

Thanks.