FA PREMIER LEAGUE: Sunderland 1 Man City 2:MANCHESTER CITY'S owner, Thaksin Shinawatra, has reportedly warned Sven-Goran Eriksson that if results do not improve he will not keep his job at the end of the season. Shinawatra supposedly fancies Luiz Felipe Scolari, which if nothing else is a neat way of goading Eriksson, who will remember Scolari was the FA's first choice when they sacked him as manager of England.
Eriksson must hope that Shinawatra does not use the same tactics employed on him while president of Thailand. The Premier League treats its managers shabbily, but removing Eriksson with a bloodless military coup would be going too far.
Whatever is going on, Saturday's win can only have helped Eriksson. Much of this game was unwatchable, but as Shinawatra has spent much of the Thai New Year receiving respectful visits from honoured guests in his home in Chiang Mai, he may just check the result and not bother with a television replay.
This was another game where the soap opera was more interesting than the match. Manchester City played the part of the pocket watch which Prof Eriksson gently swung in front of his victims, his spectacles glinting disturbingly. Sunderland, you will now fall into a deep sleep for 79 minutes and then wake at the count of three to discover you are about to lose the game.
And Sunderland did.
It was not that they lacked energy and pride, but perhaps they lacked desperation.
Eriksson's game plan was based upon remaining ordered and calm. On the few occasions they faltered, Joe Hart's speed off his line saved them.
Sunderland woke to the sound of a referee's whistle, and a point to the penalty spot after the merest touch from Nyron Nosworthy had sent City substitute Daniel Sturridge tumbling. Elano beat Craig Gordon with a drive down the middle. The response from both managers did them credit.
For once the managerial bias was laced with a measure of balance and integrity. It is called status; Arsene Wenger, oddly, has never quite pulled it off.
Eriksson admitted: "There was contact for the penalty, but it was still a bit harsh."
Keane said: "It was clearly not a penalty, but we have to accept that and move on. It would be unfair to say he dived, some players lose their balance, but there was no contact."
Eriksson's fair-mindedness rarely wavers and Keane's desire is enhanced by an intelligence and pragmatism that will serve him well in his second career.
Sunderland were roused into an equaliser within three minutes, Dean Whitehead lashing in a volley from Andy Reid's cross.
When the goal went in City's bench were preoccupied with substituting Sturridge who, whether clipped or not, had injured himself in gaining the penalty. If their spirits had fallen by the time they got Darius Vassell on the field, he was about to raise them.
His winning goal with three minutes of normal time remaining had nothing to commend it other than the outcome, a scuffed shot which dribbled in at Gordon's right post.
City's win maintains hopes of European qualification, as well as a first top-10 finish in the Premier League, but it was no renaissance. Eriksson has achieved about as much as one could have expected.
Guardian Service
