Mass of woes for Keane

ROY Keane told reporters prior to this game that at Sunday morning mass he puts a £20 note in the collection plate – £50 if his side have endured a poor result.

On the evidence of Saturday’s 4-1 mauling at the hands of Bolton – a fourth consecutive home defeat – the Sunderland manager will have taken his cheque book to church with him yesterday.

Divine intervention will be needed if Sunderland are to take anything from their next game – a trip to Old Trafford.

But it’s more temporal matters that give cause for concern as Keane’s side gifted victory to Bolton with an error-strewn performance that betrayed a growing lack of confidence at the Stadium of Light.

After Djibril Cisse opened the scoring on 11 minutes with a smart finish past Jussi Jaaskelainen it seemed as though the home side were set for their first victory on Wearside since their historic win over Newcastle in October.

But a re-arranged defence, with Anton Ferdinand dropped to the bench and right-back Phil Bardsley switched to left full back, conspired to undo their bright start.

Sunderland’s defence were truly woeful.

A pair of schoolboy errors that allowed Johan Elmander to dispatch goals either side of half-time sealed the Black Cats’ fifth defeat in six Premier League games.

That is relegation form and unless Keane can galvanise a side who seem drained of self belief, then Sunderland are heading for yet another relegation scrap.

Last week, striker Kenwyne Jones confirmed that his side would not become embroiled in a fight for survival. But Keane urged his players to accept the reality of their plight.

“All they have to do is look at the table,’’ insisted the boss, who, honest as ever, took the brunt of the blame. “I don’t know Kenwyne’s quotes. We certainly can’t go down that road of thinking we’re too good.

“I’ve said before we’ve got some very good players and we should be doing better but that’s the responsibility of the manager.

“You can bring good players together, but if I’ve said it once I’ve said it a million times, good players don’t make a good team. I look at the players today and we’re almost there and I think the bit we’re missing will really come down to me, simple as that.’’ Jones was unfortunate when referee Chris Foy, on the sayso of an assistant, ruled out a second goal for Cisse.

The Trinidad and Tobago international was adjudged to have pushed Jlloyd Samuel as he crashed a header against the bar in the build-up.

That would have levelled the scores and the game could have been a very different affair.

Bolton’s second came from the impressive Gary Cahill, who crashed home a trademark Trotters set-piece.

And before half-time the visitors were out of sight when Cahill launched a hopeful punt forward that fell to Danny Collins.

The centre-back missed the ball as it bounced in one of those nightmarish errors beloved of Christmas blooper DVDs.

Elmander, who had earlier missed a similar chance, pounced on the mistake and fired through Craig Gordon’s legs.

The Scotland international keeper, returning after an ankle injury, endured a poor afternoon and did not appear fully fit.

His failure to deal with Matt Taylor’s looping header had given Bolton their opener on 18 minutes.

“We’re not doing it at this moment in time,”

noted Keane.

“So let’s not kid, the manager has to be held responsible.

It would happen in any other walk of life, any office job, if it’s not quite working out.

“You have to look at yourself.

Always look at the man in the mirror, always. That’s what I’ll be doing.”

But it’s not the face looking back at him that will decide Keane’s fate but the voice in his head.

The former Republic of Ireland captain has always been his fiercest critic – if Keane were a player, on current form, he’d be dropped to the reserves.

And Keane accepted that on Saturday, losing out to the oftderided Gary Megson, his performance did not meet his own high standards: “Listen, if you get beaten 4-1 at home I clearly haven’t done my job well enough today.”

Removing Ferdinand from the starting line-up backfired in disastrous fashion.

And Keane’s failure to find a settled line-up – he’s selected 27 different players already this season – is an ongoing problem.

He confirmed that Ferdinand’s place on the bench was a tactical move after his poor showing against West Ham.

“He was fit, so were the other lads. Yorkie’s fit, he was left out.

“I’ve got a lot of good players out. When you lose a match you try different stuff.”