Wigan Athletic 3, Sunderland 0

SINCE taking over as manager 12 months ago, there have been few occasions when Roy Keane has left his Sunderland squad almost speechless. Saturday, however, was one of those.

Poor performances are part of the game and Keane witnessed one or two last season which immediately spring to mind. Losing at Colchester in April or suffering at the hands of Ipswich just 25 days after accepting the post are among the worst.

But perhaps the most alarming of them all during last season's Championship title-winning year was the way in which Sunderland collapsed in front of thousands of travelling supporters at Deepdale on October 14.

Preston cruised to a 4-1 victory and there were hopes that a similarly ineffective display would never return. Back in Lancashire, where Sunderland's undefeated start to life back in the Premier League came to a crashing halt, those hopes were dashed.

The Black Cats were so poor they almost beat themselves. Sloppy in possession and vulnerable at the back. This was hardly the display you would expect from a team that has had £30m spent on it this summer.

Wigan, for all their energy and drive and despite the fact they had no peers on Saturday night, remain a club that should be struggling against relegation come May.

Yet they found a Sunderland team intent on turning in a performance not only reminiscent of Preston but also of their last sojourn to the top-flight.

Two years ago it was all about breaking records, when the Wearside outfit ended up going down with just 15 points as they struggled to come to terms with quality of the top tier.

ROY KEANE always predicted that managing in the Premier League was never going to be easy. For those who doubted his word, this defeat to Wigan offers a clear reality check.

For the second game in a row, following the euphoric win over Tottenham a week ago, the Black Cats failed to perform. This time, however, there was a difference.

Instead of coming away with a point like they did against a similarly poor Birmingham in midweek, Wigan were much the better team and Sunderland were run-ragged defensively.

Not even Paul McShane, the £2.5m buy from West Brom that has looked so impressive since his arrival, could thwart the Latics, who were deserving of all three points.

Under Chris Hutchings, who had masterminded a marginal win over Middlesbrough on Wednesday, Wigan are still expected to be relegation-fodder. Quite what that says about Sunderland's hopes of a top half finish remains to be seen.

Sunderland's passing was wayward, creativity lacking, while Emile Heskey and Titus Bramble were made to resemble England internationals.

Heskey's opener, when he was afforded too much space in the box, laid the foundations in the first half, and Denny Landzaat and Antoine Sibierski's penalties in the second half rounded things off.

It was Wigan's rewards for an energetic display, but this was not ideal preparation for Sunderland as they head into back-to-back league fixtures with Liverpool and Manchester United.

A Keane rollicking will be the order of the day and he is sure to push ahead with his recruitment drive, with a powerful centre-forward and a forward-thinking left-back high in his sights.

The 1-0 success over Tottenham nine days ago highlighted how Sunderland should not have such worries this time around, although the way in which they surrendered to an ordinary Latics line-up alarmed Keane.

The Irishman, tasting defeat for the first time as a Premier League manager, tore into his players in a 25-minute dressing room dressing down at the JJB Stadium.

"The manager had a lot to say. I shall leave it at that, but he was disappointed," said Nyron Nosworthy, one capable of uttering his feelings after such a poor defeat.

"I'd say this is the most disappointed the gaffer has been since we lost to Preston. That day was exactly the same because we knew we didn't perform anywhere near we know we can."

Nosworthy admitted Sunderland conceded 'silly free-kicks' too often and those handed the initiative to Wigan.

It was poor defending that was responsible for Wigan being able to build on a slender one-goal advantage, courtesy of Emile Heskey's clinical opener after 19 minutes.

The hosts could have had at least two penalties courtesy of Nosworthy and Greg Halford slack defending before referee Mike Riley did eventually point to the spot - twice in the space of seven second half minutes.

Firstly Danny Collins unnecessarily man-handled Antoine Sibierski in the area while Sunderland were down to ten men and Denny Landzaat struck powerfully into Craig Gordon's left corner. Then Russell Anderson, McShane's replacement, clumsily tripped Heskey and Sibierski found the centre of Gordon's net.

"It was a reality check," said Nosworthy. "As a team, it just wasn't good enough and we accept that. We gave bad goals away and got punished.

"It's the worst we've played for quite some time. We were poor and we've all got to take responsibility.

"If we want to achieve a higher finish we need to do a lot better than that.

"Teams like Wigan are the ones we will be around and we should be picking up points."

Sunderland had only two decent chances throughout the 90 minutes, which led to fine saves from goalkeeper Chris Kirkland. Michael Chopra's early free-kick was well tipped over and shortly after Daryl Murphy was denied by Kirkland's feet after he was put clean through.

The last two performances have highlighted that Sunderland need to be more creative and there will be a drive over the next five days to deliver a striker in the target-man mould.

Should one arrive, with back to back league fixtures against Liverpool and Manchester United on the agenda, the next couple of weeks are certainly not going to be easy. Keane, however, would not have that any other way.

WIGAN (4-4-2): Kirkland; Melchiot, Bramble, Granqvist, Kilbane; Valencia, Landzaat, Scharner (Brown 83), Koumas; Sibierski (Aghahowa 76), Heskey (Folan 78). Subs (not used): Pollitt, Hall.

SUNDERLAND (4-4-2): Gordon; Halford, Nosworthy, McShane (Anderson 62), Wallace; Stokes (Collins 46), Etuhu, Yorke (Miller 46), Richardson; Murphy, Chopra. Subs (not used): John, Connolly.