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Keane cuts no corners
Sunderland, 12:08, September 28, 2008 ,
Roy Keane admitted Sunderland paid the price for conceding "sloppy" goals in their 2-1 defeat at Aston Villa.
The visitors had led through Djibril Cisse's second goal of the season but Ashley Young and John Carew struck to earn Martin O'Neill's men maximum points at Villa Park.
Keane was critical of his players in the build-up to Young's free-kick and felt they had contributed to their own downfall, while highlighting the need for a more ruthless edge up front.
He said: "You've got to put the ball in the back of the net and, for all our decent play and good possession, particularly in the second half, we didn't test the 'keeper enough.
"We felt there was definitely something there for the taking today so we are disappointed with that side of things.
"But we know Villa are going to be pretty decent at set-pieces. Their record would suggest that, the number of goals they have scored over the last couple of years.
"The first goal was very sloppy, a needless tackle, and the wall could have done better. For the second one we were in decent possession and gave it away.
"If they had opened us up and scored some goals against us, then you hold your hand up, but we invited the trouble on and they took full advantage so credit to Villa for that.
"We felt we did enough to get a result but in the final third did not produce that bit of quality that you need to get something in a Premier League game."