Premier League
November 29, 2008
Sunderland
1 - 4
Bolton Wanderers
Premier League
15:00 GMT, November 29, 2008
Stadium of Light, England
Referee: C Foy
Horror show for Keano
Scoring Summary
| Sunderland | Bolton Wanderers |
|---|---|
| Djibril Cissé (11') | Matthew Taylor (17') |
| Gary Cahill (21') | |
| Johan Elmander (39') | |
| Johan Elmander (55') |
Teams
| Sunderland | Bolton Wanderers |
|---|---|
| 1 Craig Gordon | 22 Jussi Jaaskelainen |
| 15 Danny Collins | 31 Andrew O'Brien |
| 5 Nyron Nosworthy | 5 Gary Cahill |
| 2 Phillip Bardsley | 3 Jlloyd Samuel |
| 21 Pascal Chimbonda | 15 Gretar Rafn Steinsson |
| 10 Kieran Richardson | 4 Kevin Nolan |
| 6 Dean Whitehead | 19 Gavin McCann |
| 20 Andy Reid | 6 Fabrice Muamba |
| 8 Steed Malbranque | 7 Matthew Taylor |
| 17 Kenwyne Jones | 14 Kevin Davies |
| 9 Djibril Cissé | 9 Johan Elmander |
| Substitutes | |
| 12 Liam Miller | Ricardo Gardner 11 |
| 11 El-Hadji Diouf | Riga Mustapha 17 |
| 4 Teemu Tainio | Ali Al Habsi 26 |
| 14 Daryl Murphy | Ebi Smolarek 10 |
| 26 Anton Ferdinand | Chris Basham 30 |
| 18 Grant Leadbitter | Danny Shittu 24 |
| 32 Marton Fulop | Tope Obadeyi 35 |
| Substitutions | |
| Grant Leadbitter for Kieran Richardson (45) | Ricardo Gardner for Matthew Taylor (45) |
| Teemu Tainio for Steed Malbranque (63) | Chris Basham for Johan Elmander (89) |
| Liam Miller for Andy Reid (63) | |
| Yellow Cards | |
| Kieran Richardson (21) | |
| Nyron Nosworthy (42) | |
| Phillip Bardsley (64) | |
| Pascal Chimbonda (88) | |
| · Squads: Sunderland | Bolton Wanderers | |
Roy Keane's increasingly precarious position as Sunderland boss suffered another blow as he watched his side squander an early lead and press the self-destruct button after a 4-1 defeat against Bolton at the Stadium of Light.
• Keane: I'm right man for job
Keane watched stony-faced as Johan Elmander took advantage of two horrendous defensive blunders to send Bolton soaring to their second win in the north-east in seven days in some style.
It was the fifth home Barclays Premier League defeat of the season for Keane's men and following last Sunday's reversal to West Ham the result must leave the Irishman's position in some doubt.
Such crisis talk seemed light years away when Djibril Cisse finished off a fine 11th-minute move involving Kieran Richardson and Steed Malbranque to give his side a deserved lead.
Within nine minutes Bolton were ahead through Matt Taylor and Gary Cahill before Elmander capitalised on blunders by first Danny Collins and then Dean Whitehead to give the visitors an unassailable advantage.
As many fans headed for the exits, Elmander had a number of chances to complete his hat-trick and heap even more woe upon the dejected home team and their manager.
Kenwyne Jones had already forced a save out of Jussi Jaaskelainen before Cisse grabbed the lead, and it looked like the home side may have heeded Keane's call for a quick response in fine fashion.
But the visitors were level in the 17th minute when Gretar Steinsson's deep right-wing cross was met by a looping header from Taylor in the box which beat Craig Gordon and nudged home off the underside of the bar.
Wanderers grabbed the lead three minutes later when Andy O'Brien launched a long free-kick into the Sunderland box and the ball sprang loose to Cahill who lashed it home low past Gordon.
Sunderland thought they were level on the half-hour when Cisse blasted the ball home after Jones' header to meet Phil Bardsley's cross had clattered the bar - but referee Chris Foy ruled Jones had fouled Jlloyd Samuel while climbing for the ball.
The non-stop action continued at the other end with Elmander bursting clear and rounding the struggling Gordon on the edge of the box before screwing a left-foot shot wide from a tight angle.
Gordon, back for his first match in almost two months after injury, was having a shocker but Sunderland's lively front men were doing their best to save his blushes and Malbranque was next to flash a shot just wide.
Bolton increased their lead in the 38th minute when Collins made a complete mess of a long punt out of the visitors' box, allowing Elmander to nip in and prod the easiest of chances past Gordon.
And the home side blew it again in the 54th minute when Whitehead stumbled over a clearance and let in Kevin Nolan to feed Elmander, who fired home his second from the left side of the box.
Keane made a double substitution introducing Teemu Tainio and Liam Miller but the move was met by boos from the restless home fans who by now were beginning to exit the stadium.
In complete contrast, £10million man Elmander was oozing confidence from his two clinical finishes to add to the fine late strike with which he had broken his long barren spell last week.
The Swede should have completed his hat-trick in the 74th minute when he was sent clear by Kevin Davies but this time pulled his left-foot shot just wide of Gordon's left-hand post.
Keane issued a brutally honest assessment of his side's dismal 4-1 defeat by Bolton at the Stadium of Light and had no answers for his side's sorry plight.
Keane said: "I ask myself every single day if I am the right man for Sunderland. I asked myself this morning and I said that I was. Tomorrow morning if the answer's no we will have to look at it.
"I have to be honest in my assessment. It's not about what's best for Roy Keane. It's Sunderland Football Club. I might wake up on Monday morning and think I'm the right man. On Tuesday it might be different.
"I'm the manager of this football club and ultimately I'm responsible and I've never shied away from that.
"That's part of being a manager and that's why I take full responsibility for today and the run we're on and everything else.''
But Keane admitted he was not angry over the series of individual errors which contributed to his side's heavy defeat with Matt Taylor, Gary Cahill and Johan Elmander, twice, replying out Djibril Cisse's early strike.
He added: "I look at what these lads have done over the last two and a bit years and they've been absolutely brilliant. I can't legislate for individual mistakes so stuff like that doesn't make me angry.
"We play with such innocence we make it hard for ourselves and we seem to get punished for every mistake we make.
"It's such a harsh world. When you get in front you've certainly got to make sure you don't lose the game.''
Bolton boss Gary Megson insisted he had always had confidence in his side moving into the top half of the table after their third consecutive win lifted them up to seventh.
Megson said: "There's no secret and the only thing we're doing differently that we weren't doing beforehand is scoring goals.
"Our performances are not much different except in terms of confident. When we score goals all the other aspects of our game come to the fore and people start to realise what we've got.''
And Megson once again hailed Elmander for a performance which ought to have yielded a hat-trick and which continued to wipe out the memory of his long barren spell in front of goal.
Megson added: "I thought Johan's best chance was the early one when he beat Craig Gordon and put it over the top and I was delighted by his response because he didn't hide or feel sorry for himself.
"He scored two fantastic goals and had one kicked off the line so I'm really pleased with him. People have focused on the fact that he hasn't scored enough goals but his performances have always been really good.''