Manchester Utd  1 Sunderland 0:Honesty is of paramount importance to Roy Keane but on Saturday night the Sunderland manager's customary candour was replaced by rare discretion. Asked about Manchester United's prospects for the season, Alex Ferguson's former captain came over a little coy, ducking a reporter's question.

"It's none of my business, really," he replied, and paused before adroitly deflecting any follow-up inquiries with a touch of humour. "United will be fine - they'll be safe."

Serenaded throughout by choruses of "Keano" from both sets of supporters at Old Trafford, he had seen no such need for diplomacy the previous week when, after losing at home to Liverpool, he praised Rafael Benitez's side to the skies, insisting the Spaniard had produced "the best team to come out of Anfield in years".

On Saturday's evidence no one could suggest United's class of 2007-2008 is one of Ferguson's better ensembles. For long spells Sunderland, arranged in obdurate 4-5-1 mode, looked comfortable if alarmingly unambitious. Edwin van der Sar was not required to deal with a single shot, and Craig Gordon was rarely called to arms until Louis Saha replaced Anderson at half-time.

Operating wide on the left, Nani, a €20-million acquisition from Sporting Lisbon, was unimpressive. Granted, his splendid corner prefaced Saha's glancing near-post scoring header but otherwise he was largely subdued by Paul McShane.

Making his comeback from an injury sustained in April, Saha provided United with that hitherto absent attacking physicality.

"Saha made the difference," said Keane. "He's a very good footballer with a lot of strengths. He gives them something different, a bit of physical presence."

Without Saha's input United might well have drawn and debate as to whether their chances of retaining their title had evaporated would now be raging. Although Keane maintained that it "takes seven or eight weeks for sides to really get up and running", he refrained from tipping his alma mater for glory. Moreover, when asked if opposing teams no longer feared playing at Old Trafford he merely said, "I'm not sure. I can't really comment."

Which was a shame as his invariably cliche- and platitude-free musings are always worth hearing and delivered in flowing, eloquent sentences that never seem to descend into grammatical black holes. A pity his team's passing is less articulate.

So much so that, should Sunderland lose at home to Reading on Saturday week, a full-blown crisis will be declared on Wearside. Not that a man currently negotiating a doubling of his reputed €885,000-a-year salary is panicking yet. "I'm quite comfortable," Keane said. "This was always going to be a testing time but I'm more than confident we'll be fine by the end of the season.

"There are different ways of losing and the way we lost today was not too bad. My players' body language was good; they wanted the ball. The trouble is that, when you have to work so hard to get it, your concentration sometimes goes and you don't use it properly."

With such slapdash delivery not confined to the visitors, the game never lived up to an emotional preamble featuring Keane stepping out of the tunnel to thunderous acclaim before embracing the equally applauded Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, who has been forced into retirement by knee trouble. Keane had predicted this would not be an occasion for "hugs and kisses" but he made an exception for his former team-mate. "I've been speaking to Ole since he announced his retirement but it was good to see him," he explained. "Ole's a top man."

Do not bet against Solskjaer joining Keane's coaching staff.