Sunderland might find themselves in the bottom three after being beaten 4-1 at home by Bolton but ultimately Roy Keane has done a fantastic job during his time at the Stadium of Light.
He got them in the Premier League at the first time of asking and he has already kept them there for a year.
Now he's trying to improve the team and the football club and that's always the hardest part as a manager. When you bring in new players and personnel it takes a while for them to gel; you see that even at the bigger clubs and that's what he is finding difficult.
Roy Keane has always been a fighter and his team need his fighting spirit at the minute
Alan Hansen
When you look at the players he has brought in you would say they are a big improvement on last season, it's just getting the right formula and ultimately that is what makes a successful manager.
At times, it has been refreshing to see Keane being quite critical of his players but while he has not held back about them he has been the first to admit that the buck stops with him.
It's not like he has been hiding behind the players. He's the manager of the football club and he stands or falls by their results and they haven't come his way.
I guess, like Paul Ince at Blackburn and even Gianfranco Zola at West Ham, Keane is beginning to understand that if you've played at any of the top clubs you have to realise that the players you manage will not be as good as you and they might not have the same hunger and desire.
But you have to set those things aside because the moment, as a manager, you start being too critical and looking down your nose at the players then it spells trouble.
Roy already knows not everybody in the game will have the same hunger and desire as him. In fact, I would say there are only about 10% of footballers who have his level of commitment.
But that's where the right blend of players comes in, especially if you are struggling. You can compensate for not having players with Keane's ability by being a strong team. There are hundreds of examples.
Look at Wimbledon, where in the 1980s and the early 1990s they didn't have the greatest quality in the world, but because they had togetherness and had a blend of different things they were relatively successful for a long time.
Keane's apparent frustration with his players does raise the question of whether he would have been more suited to working at one of the so-called 'big four' clubs.
But I would argue there is no easy job when you go straight into management. Whether you take over at the lower level in the league, the middle tier or even at the top, each has its own pressures.
New bosses like Keane, Ince and Zola just have to learn their trades while hoping the club does well long enough for them to survive.
The other argument is that you can wait a lifetime and not get a job.
Sunderland is a big club, they have massive support and it was an enticing prospect for a new manager like him and if you look at the examination so far he has done really, really well.
During my time at Liverpool Kenny Dalglish took over as player/manager in 1985, when for the first time in 10 years, we hadn't actually won anything.
So he didn't come into a team which was flying, but he did have quality players there.
It would be easier to a certain extent if Keane had the same type of players at his disposal but how do you get players as good as Roy Keane into Sunderland?
I think that's an impossible task so he's got to go with players the 'big four' clubs would not take and when you deal with those players there is a certain way of managing them.
Over the years there have been experts at getting teams out of trouble and being able to deal with players at that level but that takes time.
Roy Keane has always been a fighter and at the minute his team need his fighting spirit.
I don't think the players can let Keane's outstanding contract situation affect them and until the club turn round and say 'right the manager is under pressure, he's got three games or whatever' then I don't think they will.
But if the manager looks as though he might leave then that creates uncertainty around the players. Sunderland will just have to hope it does not get that to that stage.
E-mail this to a friend 
Printable version 
Bookmark with:
What are these?