PLENTY of four-letter words were being used in the away end at St James' Park on Saturday.

So, another one won't do any harm, will it?

That word is "pace", and it was ultimately the greatest difference between Newcastle United and Sunderland.

It was why Peter Reid is now staring into the abyss, with Saturday's game against Aston Villa promising to make or break his managerial future.

Kieron Dyer and Craig Bellamy have pace in abundance; so, too, does Laurent Robert.

Alan Shearer's old legs might not carry him around at the same speed as in his most prolific days, but his colleagues make up for his comparative lack of mobility.

But what about Sunderland? Matthew Piper's no slouch, but they have no one to produce the sort of lung-busting runs that Dyer was still making in the dying stages?

Even in Sunderland's finest Premiership days, it was speed of mind rather than legs that brought them success.

But with Don Hutchison long gone and Julio Arca out of the picture, their midfield looks painfully pedestrian.

Claudio Reyna adds brain to the brawn of Gavin McCann and Jason McAteer, yet on Saturday his threat was minimal.

Even the best playmakers need a target; an outlet to hit with through balls.

But on Saturday, Tore Andre Flo simply did not offer that option to Reyna and co. And when the Norwegian was in possession, all too often he squandered it.

And one can only wonder what Kevin Phillips would have made of the opportunities that Flo wasted.

But more than anything, it was Sunderland's chronic lack of pace that was exposed. None of their players could run at Newcastle, or get behind their brittle defence.

If you doubt the importance of speed, consider this: how good would Bellamy be if he lost his pace?

There was not a single redeeming feature of Sunderland's performance, save for the hope that things surely can't get any worse than that.

Too often, McCann and McAteer were caught dawdling inside their own half, and such a mistake kickstarted a chain of events that led to Shearer's goal.

There was little in the game until Shearer doubled Newcastle's money, but from then on the chasm that divided the sides could not have been covered by the Tyne Bridge.

Sir Bobby Robson will not have been fooled by the comfortable manner of his team's win. He knows they will have to play far better against Feyenoord tomorrow.

But Saturday was not about Newcastle; it was all about Sunderland and their shortcomings.

Put it this way: Sunderland only looked even remotely dangerous once a 35-year-old on the verge of retirement appeared.

Doesn't that say it all about the malaise the Black Cats currently find themselves in, after spending £22m in the last year?

Niall Quinn's presence seemed to spread panic among the Newcastle ranks. Nikos Dabizas had the devil's own job trying to quell his threat.

But it was nowhere near enough. Marcus Stewart had just five minutes to perform a miracle, and unfortunately he'd forgotten to bring his magic wand.

Of course, Reid does not escape censure. If the players aren't giving their all, one must ask why, and eventually it goes back to the manager.

But could he do anything about the way his defence evaporated as Dyer and Bellamy cut a giant swathe down their right side inside 83 seconds?

Was he to blame for Flo's inability to hold the ball up, as one would expect from a 6'4" striker?

And the absence through injury of Phillips, Sunderland's talisman for five years, could scarcely have come at a crueller time for Reid.

Despite the impact Quinn had on the game, it was still Newcastle who were asking all the questions in the second-half.

As Sunderland became more and more stretched, so the Magpies counter-attacked at will.

And so it came back to the issue of pace. Bellamy and Dyer ran amok, and too often Sunderland had to rely on good fortune to keep the scoreline respectable.

There's little Reid can do about that, of course. Throwing tea cups at dressing room walls will not make his players run quicker.

But they can show more heart, or "bottle" - the word Quinn used time and again in his forthright post-mortem.

Now is the time for Sunderland's players to dig deep; to show desire to make up for what they may lack in ability.

If not, the quickest thing on Wearside is likely to be Reid's P45.