Sunderland 1-4 Bolton: Should I stay or should I go, wonders Roy Keane

Roy Keane wants to be the crown prince of Sunderland but instead has become the king of mixed messages.

This is the man who says he might quit Sunderland...and then insists in the next breath that he is not a quitter.

This is the man who says managers are not important...and then claims Sunderland's crisis is entirely his fault.

This is the man who Sir Alex Ferguson rates as one of his greatest Manchester United signings...yet did not turn a hair when his old gaffer said he was retiring.

It all adds up to a man who hardly knows which way to turn after watching Sunderland lose six out of their last seven games.

"I'm not considering my future today, no. But maybe tomorrow. I ask myself every day of the week if I am the right man," said Keane after this latest error-strewn defeat.

"You keep asking me about being a quitter and I don't think I am a quitter. Anyone who's played with me or worked with me would know I'm not.

"We're not doing it at this moment in time and the manager has to be held responsible. It would happen in any other walk of life so you have to look at yourself. Always look at the man in the mirror, always. That's what I'll be doing tonight.

"When we can get beaten 4-1 at home I clearly haven't done my job well enough. And again I can't blame the players, it's the manager. Simple as that. The manager.

"I wanted to go to the next level and brought in lots of players - lots and lots of players - but we're coming up short. There's only one person responsible for that and that's myself."

But Keane can hardly take the blame for Danny Collins' defensive howler or Dean Whitehead's dilly-dallying on the ball that led to Johan Elmander's goals.

He rejects any claims that the players are nervous about his contract negotiations and says any player worth his salt would not give two hoots.

"It's none of their business, my contract situation. If you're a footballer you just focus on yourself because you've got enough going on with your own performances to worry about anything else. It should not be an issue and I very much doubt it is.

"I could use it as an easy excuse. I could use my contract situation to defend the players, but if you're a professional footballer it should not be an issue.

"When Sir Alex Ferguson said he was retiring I didn't think too much of it. He spoke to me about it and I was thinking 'what do you want me to do, cry over it?' "Brian Clough was having a hard time with Forest towards the end of his career. You look back and we let him down by getting relegated. So managers come and go. Managers aren't that important.

It's the football club that's most important."

At the moment that's a football club in the relegation zone after a horrendous run of results culminating in a thrashing at the Stadium of Light by Gary Megson's in-form Bolton.

Sunderland took the lead through Djibril Cisse after Kieran Richardson's through-ball, but 10 minutes later they were in the red.

First, Gretar Steinsson's cross was headed over the stranded Craig Gordon by Matt Taylor and then Gavin McCann's chipped free-kick was only half-cleared and Gary Cahill made Black Cats pay by lashing home.

By the break it was 3-1 thanks to Collins making an inexplicable mess of an innocuous long ball to gift Elmander a chance he finished with aplomb.

Salt was rubbed into the wounds when the dallying Whitehead was caught on the ball by Kevin Nolan, who released the Swede to claim his brace.

Fans started leaving the stadium with 35 minutes left on the clock and the majority of those who remained booed their team at the final whistle.

Defender Phil Bardsley has appealed for patience, saying: "The fans are disappointed but we need them to be behind us. I know we've lost games at home but we need them to be behind us and not to boo us. We need everyone. When the going gets tough you need everybody, not just the players."

Sunderland : Gordon 5, Chimbonda 5, Nosworthy 5, Collins 4, Bardsley 6, Malbranque 5 (Tainio 62, 5), Whitehead 5, Richardson 5 (Leadbitter 46, 6), Reid 6 (Miller 63, 5) Cisse 7, Jones 5
Bolton : Jaaskelainen 6, Steinsson 7, Cahill 8, Andrew O'Brien McCann 8, Taylor 7 (Gardner 46, 6), Elmander 8 (Basham 89).

Referee : Chris Foy
Attendance : 3 5,457

MAN OF THE MATCH (Worth an extra two Fantasy League points) Gavin McCann (BOLTON) 8 Calm and influential on old hunting-ground

VILLAIN OF THE MATCH James Collins (SUNDERLAND) Nightmare for Bolton's third goal

ANORAK Sunderland's El-Hadji Diouf made 136 appearances and scored 24 goals for Bolton

NEXT THREE GAMES

SUNDERLAND
Saturday: Man Utd (a) Prem
Sat Dec 13: WBA (h) Prem
Sat Dec 20: Hull (a) Prem

BOLTON
Saturday: Chelsea (h) Prem
Sat Dec 13: A Villa (a) Prem
Sat Dec 20: Portsmouth (a) Prem

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