Sunderland manager Roy Keane has ordered midfielder Dickson Etuhu to clean up his act after picking up five bookings in the space of eight games.

The 25-year-old will sit out tomorrow's Premier League game with Blackburn at the Stadium of Light after landing an automatic one-match ban following his caution in the 2-2 draw at Middlesbrough last week.

Previous bookings against Birmingham, Wigan, Liverpool and Luton left him walking a disciplinary tightrope, and after managing to get through fixtures against Manchester United and Reading unscathed, an untidy challenge on Luke Young confirmed his inevitable suspension.

Keane was no stranger to a rugged tackle or a yellow card during his illustrious playing days, but he was warned his £1.5 million signing that he must learn quickly if he is to avoid a catalogue of cautions this season.

He said: "If you play in the middle of the park, clearly you are going to pick up bookings, you are going to be suspended, but I did not think he would be suspended so early in the season after seven games.

"That's disappointing and Dickson will have to learn from that because he is suspended.

"He has been suffering with a groin injury anyway so he might have been touch and go for the weekend, but he has got to learn fast because before you know it, he will be picking up another five.

"I'm not sure how he got the five bookings, but if they are for tackles, that's fair enough; but if they are for pulling tops . . . and I think one or two of his bookings have been not exactly in dangerous areas.

"Sometimes, there is a good booking, but he has probably picked up one or two bad ones. I do believe, especially around the middle of the park and especially in the Premier League, they tend to be a little bit wiser."

Etuhu's absence - last week's hero Liam Miller, who scored his side's 89th-minute equaliser at the Riverside Stadium, could be the main beneficiary - has exacerbated the injury problems which have plagued Keane for much of the season to date.

Nyron Nosworthy and Russell Anderson are battling to shake off knee and calf problems respectively, but Kieran Richardson, Dean Whitehead and Stanislav Varga remain on the long-term casualty list.

Ian Harte was included in the squad for the first time last weekend, but Andy Cole is yet to shake off his own calf problem and like Carlos Edwards, who is out with a hamstring tear, will not be risked until he is fully fit.

Indeed, the Sunderland manager has ruled out both players until after the next international break, which means they are unlikely to be available until the trip to West Ham on October 21st.

Keane said: "I am ruling Carlos out until probably after the international break.

"He is certainly not available for Saturday and to try to push him for the game next week against Arsenal would be crazy.

"We cannot risk him for the sake of one week when we know there's a two-week break coming up.

"Hopefully we will be available for us after that because he has had one or two setbacks already and it would be crazy to risk him.

"I would probably put Andy in the same boat as Carlos.

"We will probably wait until after the international break to try to push him.

"He might have a week's training next week and possibly a reserve game the following week, but we won't be taking any chances with him either."

Keane, meanwhile, is running the rule over former Manchester City midfielder Kiki Musampa.

The 30-year-old, who is a free agent after leaving Turkish club Trabzonspor, is training with the Black Cats with a view to sealing a permanent move.

Dutch international Musampa spent 18 months on loan at City from Atletico Madrid, and joined Trabzonspor on a three-year deal.

However, he is now without a club and Keane is hoping to be given permission to play him in the reserves at Liverpool next Tuesday.