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Keane confirms squad needs major surgery
LATER this week, Roy Keane
will meet Sunderland chairman
Niall Quinn and chief executive
Peter Walker to discuss his transfer
budget for the summer.
Provided
he takes a tape of Saturday's
2-0 defeat at Bolton with
him, he should have no problem
getting what he asks for. If ever
a game underlined how much rebuilding
work was still to be carried
out at a club, this was surely
it.
Despite Keane's protestations,
a lack of motivation was inevitable
following the 3-2 victory
over Middlesbrough that had already
secured Sunderland's Premier
League status. Bolton were
fighting for their lives - the Black
Cats had already turned their attention
to the beach.
Yet top-flight survival could
not explain the shocking lack of
quality that characterised much
of Sunderland's play. Passes repeatedly
went astray, opposition
runs constantly went unchecked
and the defending that led to
Bolton's two goals was all but
non-existent. This wasn't just a
team with nothing to play for. For
much of the game, it looked like
a team that was incapable of
playing at all.
"Niall and Peter were at
Bolton, and what they saw just
confirmed that we're short," said
Keane, whose side will finish the
season with a record of 14 defeats
from their 19 away matches.
"Sometimes it's just a matter of
quality. It's not about players not
doing their best, it's just that the
quality isn't there. I can't defend
players that give the ball away
when they're not under pressure.
"The good thing about this
game is that it has just confirmed
what I already knew. Maybe if we
had beaten Bolton and won
against Arsenal, people would
have said, We're not bad, we finished
mid-table'. This just confirms
how short we are, and it
needs to be sorted.
"Could I make seven or eight
changes over the summer? I
would say at least that, although
whether I can do it
in terms of getting the
right people in remains to
be seen."
Saturday's defeat underlined
the need for
signings if Sunderland
are to avoid a
second successive
relegation battle,
but Keane's furious
reaction to
it also confirmed
that a
large number
of players will be
leaving the Stadium
of Light before the
start of next season.
The Black Cats boss
will meet his out-of-contract
players this week, and of
the sextet - Dwight Yorke, Ian
Harte, Andrew Cole, Stephen
Wright, Stanislav Varga and Darren
Ward - only Yorke is expected
to be offered a new deal.
However, Keane's cull will not
begin and end with the section of
his squad due to become free
agents at the end of this month.
More than half-a-dozen other
players will also be jettisoned,
with the Irishman willing to pay
off a portion of their contracts in
order to hasten their departure
from the North-East.
Michael Chopra and Liam
Miller would appear to be especially
vulnerable after they were
unceremoniously hauled off in
the 61st minute of Saturday's
game. Miller is already on the
transfer list following a string of
timekeeping problems, while
Chopra has failed to hold
down a starting spot in
his preferred centre-forward
position.
They could yet be
joined by Danny
Higginbotham
and Kieran
R i c h a r d s o n ,
players whose
below-par display
at the
Reebok Stadium
was in keeping
with some of
their other poor
p e r f o r m a n c e s
over the course of
the campaign.
"We will be
moving certain
people on, and
that will be
done in the
next two
weeks," said
Keane. "If it's not done this week,
it will be done the following one.
"A few of the decisions are
quite easy because we have four
or five players whose contracts
are up. If we decide to move them
on, it's easy enough because we
don't renew their contracts.
"But I don't have a problem
with getting rid of people who
have three or four years left either.
If players think they have a
contract to fall back on, we'll give
them a few bob to go. It's not a
problem. You pay them to come
and you pay them to go, it's simple."
The Black Cats were no worse
than a nervous Bolton during a
tepid first half, but their failure
to reach the interval on level
terms ultimately proved decisive.
Kevin Nolan's 42nd-minute cross
evaded both Jonny Evans and
Nyron Nosworthy, and the unmarked
El Hadji Diouf steered a
precise finish past Craig Gordon.
Diouf headed against the post
when presented with an even easier
opportunity nine minutes
after the interval and, while Sunderland
would have been on level
terms had Kenwyne Jones not
failed to connect with Roy O'-
Donovan's right-wing cross from
the edge of the six-yard box, the
visitors hardly merited a route
back into the game.
As it was, their fate was sealed
when Daryl Murphy glanced
Matt Taylor's cross into his own
net, with Andy Reid's attempted
clearance being fatally undermined
by his position two yards
behind the goalline. Seven days
after securing Sunderland's survival
with a header, Murphy had
repeated the trick for the Trotters.
10:01am Monday 5th May 2008
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