Keeping it fresh a number-one priority

A year on the Wear:As visitors to Wearside and new players at Sunderland discover to their pleasant surprise, down at Roker there is a long, inviting sandy beach. This is where LS Lowry came for his holidays from grim Manchester, after all, and Lowry's alluring, empty painting The Sea at Sunderland came to mind yesterday when Roy Keane was speaking.

The subject was Craig Gordon, Sunderland's record signing and a man dropped - sorry, rested - for the 1-0 win over Derby County last Saturday. Keane justified Gordon's omission on the grounds of mental fatigue and recalled that, at Manchester United, Alex Ferguson would occasionally send players off on holiday during the season to refresh them.

One particular holiday involving Peter Schmeichel sticks in Keane's memory. Funny that.

"I remember at United that Schmeichel went to Barbados for two weeks in the middle of a season, even though we were going for the league title," Keane said, his voice rising as he got to the end of the sentence. "We were training and there were pictures of him on the bloody beach."

Any thoughts Gordon may have had of similar treatment were quickly quashed. "Craig's not going to Barbados, we've got a nice sea-front down here."

Keane then offered an image from the news pages this week, of John Darwin, the man who disappeared off the coast near here at Seaton Carew only to surface in Panama five years later.

"As long as he (Gordon) doesn't go out on a canoe, we'll be all right. Mind you, maybe Wardy will be pushing him out in one."

Maybe you had to be there.

Wardy is Darren Ward, Gordon's stand-in last Saturday, and the idea that Gordon would wish for, or be forced into, some sort of Reggie Perrin escapade because he has been "rested" was recognition, albeit humorous, that a goalkeeper's plight is not comparable to his outfield team-mates.

Not that Keane wanted to emphasise differences; quite the opposite. He reiterated that the decision on Gordon was "a big call, but a straightforward call" and insisted that Gordon was no more newsworthy than his decision to omit Dwight Yorke, Dickson Etuhu or Ian Harte after the thrashing at Everton. But Keane knows that the removal of a goalkeeper, particularly one who cost €12.5 million four months earlier, making him the third-most-expensive goalkeeper in history, is not a small issue. It is arguably the most significant selection decision Keane has made in his 15 months or so as a manager.

He persisted with the theme, though, that it was "a so-called bigger decision. And, rightly or wrongly, I go with my gut feeling. I felt very comfortable with the decision. My gut feeling was that he needed a rest."

Sunderland's goalkeeping coach Raimond van der Gouw - Keane's old colleague from Old Trafford - was consulted but ultimately it was Keane's call.

It worked. Sunderland had not had a clean sheet since the season's opening day against Tottenham but they got a second in Gordon's absence against Derby. Ward stepped up from the reserves and made a crucial save to deny Kenny Miller before half-time. Who knows Gordon's emotions at such moments? Did he think: "Paul McShane's out there?" Whatever thoughts were in Gordon's mind as he sat on the bench last Saturday, when he came back to work this week, Keane said his attitude was one of determination rather than self-pity.

It means that, as Sunderland prepare for Chelsea at Stamford Bridge this afternoon, Gordon "is in contention" for selection, according to his manager.

"If he trains like he has this week, he has every chance of playing," Keane said. "I think there's been a bigger issue made than there needs to be. He's a young lad, he's come from Scotland and he's been under pressure. People can talk all they want but, to me, it was straightforward call: mentally, I thought he needed resting.

"He's only missed one game, but he's looking refreshed already. Sometimes, that's all you need. Some players might need one game, others might need four. It happened to me, I look at my own experience. You'd argue - I argued about it - but deep down you probably agree that you might need a weekend off. That's all we're looking at.

"There's no doubt that a goalkeeper is in a special position, but there's nothing more I can do. I have to make the call, like I've done with other players this season. Other players have been left out and not managed to get in, and that's been down to themselves sometimes.

"It's important how people react in training, and it's vitally important they react in a positive way. Some lads will be left out and they're miserable, pure miserable for weeks and months. Some lads are left out and they react in a brilliant way. The good pros effectively say: 'I'll show you'. Craig's attitude has definitely been: 'I'll show you'. There was never any question about that."

Perhaps not in Keane's mind. But Gordon is 24; his demotion, even if it is only for one week and he is recalled for Chelsea today, will have hurt. His ego is not vast; Gordon spoke recently and admiringly of "the arrogance" of goalkeepers like Schmeichel and Edwin van der Sar. Gordon's self-assessment was that he is "far too sensible".

As Keane argued, Gordon has suffered as Scotland's European Championship froze just at the end - as well as conceding 29 goals with Sunderland in 14 games - and there was something in a remark from Gordon before one of those Scottish games that jangled this week.

"The only thing that has surprised me," he said of acclimatising to English football, "was Robin van Persie's free-kick for Arsenal."

That was before his manager read out the team for Derby.