Keane rates his work 'below average' at Stoke

SOCCER:ROY KEANE has never been slow to criticise members of the opposition or those on his own team either on occasion, and Keane has a notorious disdain for mediocrity, but looking back at Sunderland's hugely-disappointing 1-0 defeat at Stoke City on Wednesday night, Keane yesterday turned his tongue on himself and called his work at Stoke "below average. And I don't want to be average."

Having orchestrated Sunderland's first home win for 28 years over fierce derby rivals Newcastle United last Saturday, Keane and his team travelled to Stoke where victory would have taken Sunderland to seventh place in the Premier League and set them up confidently for today's hazardous match at Chelsea.

But Keane saw Sunderland fail at Stoke and yesterday he revealed that his opinion of himself was as damning as that on his players. He said he is prepared to make first-half substitutions.

"After five minutes I should have made changes," Keane said. "I should have been braver. I should have done it. I saw Mourinho do it at Fulham, did he not? He took Joe Cole off after 20, 25 minutes. He took Robben off. If I see it again, I will do it, I should have been braver. I could have said after five minutes at Stoke that it would be a long night, and it was. Sloppy, sloppy. Wrong passes, wrong angles, wrong pace.

"I think it (first-half subs) is a brave ploy and I think Mourinho was a brave manager. It can be high risk but if you want to be successful there is risk involved. I'm disappointed with myself that I didn't do it the other night because I'm happy to take risks. Ultimately I have to be critical of myself and I always am, whether it be team selection, tactics, whatever. The bottom line is that I got it wrong."

Asked if his managerial mentors Brian Clough and Alex Ferguson made first-half substitutions, Keane replied: "I can't remember if they did it off the top of my head, but I wouldn't be surprised. They were brave managers, that's why they won titles and European Cups. They weren't average managers. My performance the other night was below average. And I don't want to be average."

Keane will remind his players not to start slowly at Stamford Bridge and the threat is there. "I think the players know that. But maybe it will take the action. But that's maybe why these footballers are at Sunderland or at other clubs that might be classed as mid-table or bottom half. There is an element of flaw in them. The top players do not have that because they respond. Look at Chelsea's. It's not the case that you can't be ready for a setback, because setbacks will come and footballers are human beings. But I learned a hell of a lot about certain players the other night.

"This is not an over-reaction to the other night but I saw things there I certainly wasn't pleased about. Subconsciously, that could be after the high of last weekend."

Keane said there would be ominous news awaiting some players on the training ground notice board yesterday lunchtime and of Sunderland's experienced players Dwight Yorke is most vulnerable to being omitted. Summer signing from Bolton, El-Hadji Diouf, has seen his form dip and Phil Bardsley will be expected to make way as Pascal Chimbonda will return.

Keane was displeased with reports that Chimbonda had missed Stoke because he was late for training on Tuesday. "There has not been a problem. It's unfair and it annoys me. Pascal is back in the squad. When he took his medical it said he had problems with playing three games in a week."

With Kenwyne Jones pushing for a first start since his 4½-month knee injury, Sunderland's team will have a changed face anyway, but Keane is ready to alter it again swiftly. "It might be a bad reflection on the player," he said. "But people talk about loyalty, loyalty doesn't exist in football now. It did years ago; the game has changed.

"You are on about players being loyal to a manager, the manager to players. Look at Spurs last week: same players, Juande Ramos no doubt a brilliant coach, but you see the players being interviewed now and they're saying we're doing this and we're doing that. Different team. I bet you that manager was loyal to one or two of those players. But players get you the sack. Ultimately players get you the sack."

Wednesday was a reality check for all concerned and a defeat at Chelsea would shove pressure on to next Saturday's home game with Portsmouth.

Of Wednesday night, he added: "I guarantee that if I was a neutral, sat at home drinking my cup of tea and waiting for the results to come through, I'd be thinking, 'Stoke away, this is a good reflection of how far Sunderland have come.' Then, boom! Typical. That's what I'd be thinking of other teams. Typical. They win the derby match, then go down to Stoke and think they just have to turn up to win.

"I will certainly be making changes for Chelsea. Some players let themselves and their teammates down. It won't be tolerated."