Still playing a dangerous game

English Premier League:Yo-yo is the term that makes Roy Keane grimace when he speaks of Sunderland. It is what Sunderland have been and it is a high-low status quo that Keane wants eradicated. Yet yo-yoism is rooted on Wearside, and it is stubborn.

The new season may be a mere three games and 14 days old but, locally, emotionally, it has already been a turbulent fortnight. Elation, despair, elation, despair - that just about covers Michael Chopra's late winner against Tottenham, the performance and near defeat at Birmingham followed by Stern John's late equaliser. And then, last Saturday, Wigan. Three-nil.

As Nyron Nosworthy described it, "an embarrassment".

Sunderland have actually lost just one of their three matches to date but because it was the last one, it is Wigan that dictates the atmosphere. And logic says that a side that has just lost 3-0 to Wigan will not get on happily against Liverpool.

Many of the 49,000 anticipated at the Stadium of Light this lunchtime will carry some of that football logic along with their suppressed optimism and yet to witness Keane and Paul McShane yesterday morning at the club's training ground was to see and hear men apparently relaxed about their coming weekend.

"We just wanted to get it all out of the way," McShane said of results and permutations so far - "one win, one draw, one loss." He was sporting a 10-stitches cut on his forehead courtesy of Wigan, but also a smile, and those searching for symbolism could find it in the face of the 21-year-old, bruised but still this side of hopeful.

McShane painted a picture of himself sitting in the Wigan dressingroom having his forehead attended to while the shouts of the crowd echoed down the corridor. "I didn't know if they were for Wigan penalties or whether we'd scored. Then the physios came in and told me. It was disappointing to be in the dressingroom."

Afterwards Keane kept McShane and the rest inside for a spell reported as half an hour. What was said remains private but one cannot imagine Keane was congratulating his squad. Keane frequently talks of the need for "balance" but he repeated his "fine line between loyalty and stupidity" comment after Wigan.

By yesterday, though, Keane was calmer. He spoke of impatience and of him being "maybe the biggest culprit" when it comes to that. He then reminded himself as much as everyone else where Sunderland were 12 months ago and of just how far and how fast they have come.

For the record, Sunderland's fourth league game of last season was a 3-1 defeat at Southend United. By season's end, Southend were relegated and Sunderland were champions. So it goes, yo-yo.

So only time will tell, as the weeks and months unfold, just how great a landmark Wigan proves to be for Sunderland.

Keane tried to ease some of the sense of disappointment by pointing out that last season "was no bed of roses. We only got into the top two with a couple of weeks to go.

"There was so much to do last year and there's so much to do this year. It's going to take time to build the club that we want. The spirit and the bond enabled us to stick at it and we'll need exactly the same this year because there will be setbacks

"There were plenty last year, people tend to forget that and think that we won every game and everyone was as high as a kite every day of the week. It wasn't like that. How we deal with setbacks will define our season."

Such perspective tends to get trampled in football's accelerating rush to judgment and, as of now, the prospect of Liverpool has had some of its glamour removed and replaced by concern.

Liverpool matter to Sunderland and not because their presence on Wearside today says something about the company you keep. Historically Liverpool were the first visitors to Roker Park, back in 1898, and when Roker was closed down 99 years later, it was Liverpool who were invited back to do the honours. On both occasions Sunderland won 1-0.

Those are nice bookends, but of questionable relevance to those whose concern has been present since promotion. It lingers, anxiety stemming from a neutral observation of this Sunderland, a view that excludes the imposing personalities of Keane and Niall Quinn, a view which excludes the story of a club's regeneration.

It is a football opinion that assesses the squad on its achievements, experience and talent. Those who see it this way have not found reassurance and not even the example of Reading last season can convince some people that a team of alleged non-stars can compete prosperously in the Premier League because it is a team.

The Tottenham result did not change thinking and nor are some reassured by Sunderland's recruitment this summer.

With a week to go of the transfer window, dealing continued yesterday with Andy Cole, whom Keane met in Manchester on Monday. There was also a striking development in Southampton where Kenwyne Jones handed in a transfer request. That does feel Sunderland-related.

Then there is Ian Harte, training with the squad - "We'll make a decision in the next 48 hours," Keane said - and also Sammy Kuffour.

The 30-year-old Ghanaian is available on a free transfer from Roma. He could be an appropriate Sunderland signing, Kuffour, given that we know him for his pitch-thumping desolation at the end of the 1999 European Cup final. One minute Bayern Munich were about to be crowned champions of Europe; the next they weren't. Sammy Kuffour knows all about the yo-yo.