We must start as we mean to go on

WE’RE well into the campaign now and already the season is beginning to have a familiar theme.

We give teams a goal head start and it’s not until we look dead and buried that we look capable of battling.

We start playing too late. In five of our 11 games so far we’ve scored goals near the end following spirited fight backs. If you count pulling two back at the Emirates as well, then it’s clear to see we’re a team that plays far better, and scores more goals, after half time.

We got away with this in the Championship, but as we’re finding out, the Premier League is a whole different ball game.

Roy Keane’s managerial record is exactly the same after 10 games as Peter Reid’s was when we sacked him in 2002.

The manager clearly won’t be dismissed and doesn’t deserve to be, but stats don’t lie and our start to this season is not good enough considering we’re the fourth top spenders in the division.

On the other hand, with so many new players arriving and injuries disrupting things, the side needs time to gel. However, the reality is proving that the top flight is a cruel place and it’s sink or swim for our stand-in players now. They need to prove their worth or be shipped out in January.

Having gone a while without any legitimate boo-boys at the club, it seems Greg Halford is beginning to fill that mantle. He’s had a bad time of it since arriving at the Stadium of Light from Reading. He’s been sent off twice in his seven games so far, has played poorly and looks like a man devoid of any confidence. Halford arrived with a decent reputation and unfortunately we’re still waiting to see proof of it.

After his red card on Saturday we will have our two first-choice right backs out, with Paul McShane still suspended, for our upcoming visit to Sven Goran Eriksson’s Manchester City. It’s a bit of a crisis at full back, with the only two options being to either give youth player Michael Kay a debut, or disrupt the rest of the back four by moving centre half Nyron Nosworthy there.

The result of Nosworthy switching would be moving Danny Collins to central defence and playing Ian Harte at left back. The pressure will then be on for the new-look back four to produce the goods immediately.

City spent a similar amount of money to ourselves over the summer and whilst they had far more quality players than ourselves before their spree, they appear to have got better value for money with their investment during the transfer window.

Ironically, we actually played better after Halford was dismissed against Fulham and our 10 men should have nicked it with a last-gasp winner when Anthony Stokes was one on against Fulham’s keeper Antti Niemi, following Kenwyne Jones’ weekly unstoppable header. It’s no surprise that Jones is already being linked with bigger clubs, but he’s our only striker who looks genuinely threatening, so holding onto him is vital if we are to stay up.

We’ll be hoping not to suffer a backlash from Man City after they lost 6-0 at Stamford Bridge last weekend; another six stat is the fact that they’ve won all their six home games this season. Breaking that run would be a statement of intent, but with teams like Tottenham (who won’t stay there) still below us, we need to pick up points to propel ourselves from the bottom three.

Something has to break and go for us soon or the pressure going into our next home game against Newcastle will be intense. Make no mistake about it, the Mags at home could make or break our season. If we lose it we’ll be down amongst the dead men at least until Christmas, but if we win we can use it as a launch pad for the rest of the season.

This derby is about more than three points and if you take away the religious bigotry involved in the Old Firm clash it’s the bitterest rivalry in Britain. We could do with a Roy Keane character on the pitch to lead the fight, but we’ll have to make do with him being our leader off the park instead.