Keane: Poor Defending Cost Us Dearly Roy Keane has singled out his defence as the weakest link in team, after Sunderland conceded two goals to Totten

“Our shabby defending will hurt our chances of survival in the Premiership.”

That’s the opinion of Sunderland boss Roy Keane, who admitted if his team fail to improve on their defending, they could soon find themselves fighting a really tough relegation battle.

“The two goals were a result of poor defending from my players. That’s the harsh reality of the Premiership,” he told BBC Sport after the match.

With Tottenham dominating much of the first half proceedings, Sunderland were restricted to mere half chances.

But Keane rallied his troops during the half time team talk, which inspired the Black Cats to stage a strong resistance in the second 45 minutes.

"I find it amazing we [Sunderland] didn't get anything out of the game, to be honest. We fought back well in the second half and forced a couple of brilliant saves from their keeper,” said the former Manchester United midfielder bitterly.

"However, you can't defend like we did on the two goals and expect to win matches away from home in the Premier League.”

Despite the 2-0 defeat at White Hart Lane, Keane managed to witness plenty of ‘positives’ from the match. Goalkeeper Craig Gordon did well to deny Tottenham forwards Jermain Defoe and Dimitar Berbatov from scoring. And, he was encouraged by the determination shown by his players in the second half.

"There are positives from the game - our performance got better as the game went on and our keeper was outstanding again. We'll have to work on them and look forward to our next match," he added.