Sbragia: We lacked discipline under Keane

Sunderland acting manager Ricky Sbragia has admitted the Black Cats were not disciplined enough during Roy Keane’s final weeks as manager.

Keane made a sudden exit from the Stadium of Light on Thursday, leaving Sbragia in charge for this evening’s heartbreaking loss to Manchester United.

Nemanja Vidic’s late tap-in gave the hosts a 1-0 win to deny what would have been a fitting send-off for Keane.

Sbragia is still hurting at Keane’s departure, but he admitted the team the Irishman put together at vast expense had lost its shape.

“We have changed a couple of things,” revealed Sbragia.

“We have changed the way we looked at the IT side of it because maybe in the last five or six weeks the players have not been disciplined.

“I am talking about playing a certain way in certain areas. It is about getting back in positions.”

One of the reasons for the change in fortune has been due to Keane altering his side’s formation once Kenwyne Jones recovered full fitness after a four-month absence with a knee injury picked up on international duty in June.

In hindsight, Sbragia believes Sunderland rushed Jones back too quickly, abandoning a 4-5-1 formation to accommodate the £6million former Southampton man.

“Kenwyne has been out for six months,” he said.

“It is going to take him a little time to get match fit. Maybe we should have introduced him a bit more.”

Sbragia confirmed Keane had not been around the training ground much in the early part of the week.

But his departure still came as a massive shock, especially as the pair had already discussed tactics for facing United.

“We spoke after the Bolton game about what we were going to do today,” said Sbragia.

“I had no idea what was going to happen.”

Sbragia also denied the Sunderland dressing room had turned against Keane, rumours that have also been denied by chairman Niall Quinn.

“I have spoken to the players and they are upset,” said Quinn.

“Most of them are here because of Roy. Djibril Cisse was close to tears.”

However, Quinn cannot spend too much time wondering about why Keane left.

Having tried and failed to talk his former international team-mate out of his decision, Quinn must now find a replacement.

Sam Allardyce and Alan Curbishley are the current favourites to take over from the Irishman, who quit Wearside on Thursday.

As both men are out of a job and boast a vast amount of Premier League experience, they are fairly obvious candidates and have already declared their interest.

However, Quinn has cautioned against fans having a punt on Keane’s eventual successor and added the Sunderland board will assess all options before deciding on their next manager.

“There have been over 30 sensible applications so far, which is great,” Quinn told Setanta Sports.

“Roy was a dream to work with and will be very hard to replace. We will not get another like him, that’s for sure.

“But we will look at all the available options, trawl around and come to a conclusion over the next couple of weeks.

“I wouldn’t advise anyone to have a bet. The reason these odds exist are because the bookmakers make money from them.

“We have not sat down to discuss anything yet, other than to confirm the number of applications we have received.

“We just intend to take it easy and make the right decision.”