Sunderland FC

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Keane rues below-par display

01 Sep 2008 - 08:20:41

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Sunderland manager Roy Keane admitted that his side had been far from their best in the 3-0 home defeat at the hands of Manchester City.

The Black Cats were rarely in the game against the Citizens and Keane accepted that most of his players had been below-par on the day.

He said: "Some days you might have two or three players under-performing, I can't think of one player today who performed to the level we know they can.

"In the Premier League, you lose games sometimes if two or three are under-performing, never mind all of them, so 3-0 was always going to happen if we were not quite at the races.

"I don't think it's a day for excuses, it really isn't. They seemed sharper than us, they seemed quicker to the ball than us, they passed it better than us, they defended better than us, they attacked better than us.

"They did everything better than us in the game and when that happens, you are never going to win a game of football.

"What we have to try to learn as a team, even on our off-days, is to try to grind a result out whatever it may be. But we are obviously not capable of doing that just yet."