Sunderland learn their lesson
It is safe to say the club have been slow on the uptake since the inception of England’s elite level 16 years ago. In that time, Sunderland have suffered three relegations, twice establishing humiliating record-low points totals of 19 and 15.
Before this game, back-to-back Premier League wins had eluded them since December 2001 and, with all those damning facts and figures in mind, Keane used his interval team-talk to urge his players to learn the lesson of the Wearsiders’ past failings.
He also found time to issue a rollicking to Kieran Richardson for his own shortcomings, even though he had played a key role in Kenwyne Jones’ equaliser after Freddie Ljungberg handed West Ham the lead.
It was Republic of Ireland midfielder Andy Reid — his pass had released Richardson — who earned top marks with the last-ditch winner which completed yet another late show from Keane’s men.
“This is a big season in the history of this club,” Keane said. “It’s been a proper yo-yo club and they needed reminding and reacted like a good bunch of players would.
“They were dead positive and went out, and I thought they deserved the victory. It gives me great hope, but we’re a million miles from being a top club and no-one needs to tell me that. You can’t go into a Premier League game and start as badly as we did here. Our record of coming back in games must be pretty poor, so to do that gets another monkey off the players’ backs.”
Keane hardly needs help in keeping control of his class of 2008 but his grasp of history provided a timely kick for Sunderland, just when they were starting to flag.
“At half-time the manager gave us a history lesson,” Richardson said. “He reminded us it had been 126 games since this club had won successive games at this level. He just wanted it to sink in.
“It was as passionate as I’ve seen the manager at half-time. He’s always pretty passionate, but he wanted to get his message across. He’s a great manager. He wants this club to stay in the Premier League — we all do. We’re seven points clear now, but there’s still a lot of work to do.
“In the first half I wasn’t pleased with myself, I was giving the ball away far too much. The manager told me that in no uncertain terms. He told me to get to grips with it and I felt a lot better after the break.’”
Much like the club he has joined, Reid — a €5.1 million January signing from Charlton — is rebuilding his top-flight reputation after a disappointing spell at Tottenham.
Reid is an unwieldy-looking figure who has been dogged by questions about his weight and fitness, but he is being revitalised under Keane’s stern leadership.
“I don’t think he was particularly brilliant in this game, but I knew when I signed him he was a good player,” Keane added. “I played with Andy for Ireland and I did have to carry him in a few games, but I knew he had a chance.
“He’s different to what we had in that he’s always trying stuff in the attacking third, whereas Deano (Whitehead), Grant (Leadbitter) Yorkie (Dwight Yorke) and Liam (Miller) aren’t that type.
“That’s no criticism of them, it’s just everyone has different strengths and weaknesses. Reidy, even for the first goal, played his part in releasing Kieran to play the ball in. He’s quite a laid-back type of lad. He enjoys a few drinks and a sing-song.
“Mentally, I thought he would be fine in front of our crowd. As Alex Ferguson said: ‘You’re asking whether players can come and play in front of 40-50,000.’ Not many can.
“Reidy went to Tottenham, but I’m never sure Tottenham is the ideal choice for young players because they buy so many. But he’s been to a big club and he’s done it at Forest and Charlton. Since he’s come here, nine times out of ten he’s been our best player in training.”
Reid’s sweet, left-foot volley after over five minutes’ stoppage time, was greeted with unbridled joy and relief by Ireland teammate Daryl Murphy, who minutes earlier missed in front of goal. “I’ll be reminding him of that,’” joked Reid. “The most important thing is we won, not who scored or who missed. It was a very proud moment, my first Sunderland goal. I felt it was what we deserved. It proves we have great character.”
Sunderland are spending four days at a Spanish training camp, but Keane said: “We’re not going for a jolly-upm we’re nowhere near a beach.
“Unfortunately, Kenwyne and Carlos Edwards aren’t with us because of work permit problems and Liam Miller is not with us because his wife is expecting. We’ve had a good result, but I won’t be getting pissed on the plane — nobody will.”
SUNDERLAND (4-4-2): Gordon 7, Bardsley 6, Nosworthy 6, Evans 6, Collins 7, Chopra 6 (Leadbitter 71, 5), Whitehead 6, Reid 8, Richardson 6 (Edwards 71, 6), Murphy 6 (O’Donovan 82, 5), Jones 7.
Subs Not Used: Yorke, Fulop.
WEST HAM (4-4-2): Green 7, Neill 6, Spector 6, Ferdinand 5, McCartney 5 (Pantsil 46, 5; Tomkins 75, 5), Ljungberg 7, Parker 7, Mullins 6, Noble 6, Cole 6 (Solano 65, 6), Ashton 6.
Subs Not Used: Boa Morte, Walker.
REFEREE: Andre Marriner (West Midlands) 7: More than a little generous to Sunderland in the final analysis by playing over the allotted five minutes’ stoppage time. On the whole, though, ran the game sensibly.
MATCH RATING: **** Always entertaining. Sunderland were sluggish to begin with, but Roy Keane’s side produced the perfect response — with some encouragement from the boss.
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