We were in danger of getting carried away, and perhaps would have done so even more this morning had Sunderland got the victory which would have had them pushing for a Champions League spot rather than waking up in the relegation zone.



But here was a game which underlined the eternal fact that good players do not automatically translate into good teams. Not immediately, at least.

And essentially, that's what cost Sunderland in a clash where they flattered to deceive in the first half and then just fell to pieces in the second: there was too little leadership in a side of talented individuals still to find their centre.

Manchester City were deprived of the injured Martin Petrov, and asked to adapt to an experimental system as a result.

That they did so successfully was because Richard Dunne, aided by Micah Richards in the heart of defence, provided a platform for the team, and the ever-dependable Dietmar Hamann offered a fulcrum around which the rest could operate.

Sunderland, in contrast, had to rely on individuals who are yet to find real partnerships anywhere over the pitch.

Players like Danny Collins, Nyron Nosworthy and Grant Leadbitter have important roles to play in Sunderland's squad, but their natural roles tend to be as support acts. There's nothing wrong with that.

Nosworthy was never more effective than when given licence by the commanding presence of Jonny Evans; Leadbitter is at his best when others take the heat off him and offer him the chance to shine; Collins has rarely let the side down when asked to support from the more peripheral position of left-back.

For those players to function at their best they need others to dominate, and while the likes of Reid, Richardson, Diouf, Malbranque - and perhaps Anton Ferdinand - are capable of doing that, the team has yet to gel.

Players have yet to find their place, and that was the most frustrating aspect of this game.

Sunderland worked hard enough, first half at least. But they seemed to be working against each other at times, as much as for each other and eventually it showed.

The game got underway in warm, muggy weather, a slight breeze blowing across the pitch with the floodlights beaming down on two changes from the side which beat Nottingham Forest in the Carling Cup midweek - Grant Leadbitter and Kieran Richardson winning starts in central midfield as Daryl Murphy and Dean Whitehead made way.

With Whitehead injured, Andy Reid took the captain's armband and he was heavily involved in a bright start from the Wearsiders.

Sunderland were comfortably the better side in the opening stages, and produced the first real chance of the game in the seventh minute when Leadbitter did well to keep the ball down with a low shot that flashed across Joe Hart's goal from left to right.

Next it was a deft combination of Chimbonda and Diouf down the right which carved out an opening and when Malbranque was chopped down on the half-way line in the 10th minute, it was the third time in the opening spell that City had been forced to foul to break up Sunderland attacks.

City gave debuts to returning hero Shaun Wright-Phillips, newly-transferred from Chelsea, and also featured record signing £19m Brazilian Jo Silva up front, and gradually - helped in part by some careless play from Sunderland - those two helped their team get a foothold in the game.

Shortly after Leadbitter had smashed a free-kick just a yard over Hart's bar from an acute angle from the left in the 18th minute, Jo Silva was quicksilver to Nyron Nosworthy, easing the defender off the ball and squeezing in a wicked cross from the left which put Sunderland under pressure and, not for the first time, brought Roy Keane off the bench.

City came more into it now with Silva working well up front in the lone striker's role, winning two corners in quick succession.

The first yellow card of the game arrived in the 30th minute - Micah Richards for a foul on home debutant Cisse and then, three minutes later, muscular midfielder Vincent Kompany following him into the book for a clumsy challenge on Steed Malbranque.

Though Sunderland remained on top, the reality was that the first effort on target for either side did not come until the 38th minute when Bardsley crossed a diagonal ball into the box and the alert Cisse glanced a header into Hart's gloves.

Sunderland's efforts were not helped by a Quixotic display by referee Chris Foy whose performance was far from gold medal.

In the space of a couple of minutes, promising Sunderland attacks were ended by dreadful fouls, first on Malbranque and then on Leadbitter, which went completely unpunished by the ref, much to the fury of the home support.

Sunderland had their chances - Kieran Richardson chipped into Hart's gloves, Steed Malbranque fired high and wide and Diouf beat Hart with a header without getting it on target.

But just as disappointed home fans were getting ready to go into the break with the scoreline goalless, they watched in horror as their side fall behind to a soft goal.

It was a slick move by City - Hamann given space to find Michael Johson on the right, Danny Collins only half able to cut out the low cross and Stephen Ireland sidefooting past Craig Gordon who got a fingertip to the ball but could not prevent it going in.

Nevertheless, it was against the run of play and had been conceded with embarrassing ease.

The stage should have been set for a second-half fightback from Sunderland, given the fact they'd dominated most of the first-half, but the comeback never came.

And City had threatened three times before they doubled their lead in the 50th minute with another goal that Sunderland's defence would want to forget.

Bardsley fouled Johnson to give City a free-kick just outside the Sunderland box and though Leadbitter blocked Hamann's shot, Johnson worked the loose ball to Jo out on the left of goal.

The striker drove a low ball across the box and through a crush of Sunderland bodies to find an unmarked Wright-Phillips who gleefully clipped a left-foot shot home.

Sunderland, 2-0 down now, failed to rally and eight minutes later they were 3-0 down with Wright-Phillips getting his second of the game.

It was the simplest goal of the match and the hardest to stomach.

A lob over the top from Michael Ball found Sunderland's defence and goalkeeper in no-man's land, the ball was allowed to bounce on the edge of the box and that was all the freedom Wright-Phillips needed to sidefoot home and beyond Bardsley's despairing lunge on the line.

Keane had seen enough and made a triple substitution - Murphy, Healy and Stokes on for Cisse, Diouf and Leadbitter.

But the changes made no difference at all to the flow of play, other than to see a series of rash challenges from Sunderland's increasingly frustrated players - Reid incredibly lucky not to be booked for two crunching fouls in a spell which saw Bardsley, Healy, Richardson and Chimbonda all going into the referee's book.

Meanwhile, Sunderland could easily have slipped into the humiliation zone and City should have made it 4-0 with 12 minutes remaining, but Stephen Ireland ballooned his shot over when well-placed.

"Goals change games and it's all about putting the ball in the back of the net," sniffed Keane afterwards.

"We could have played all night - we just weren't a goal threat - and that is very hard for us to watch because we're not like that.

"When we were 3-0 down, one or two let their heads drop and you can't afford to do that in this game."

The game reached full time with Sunderland having run out of steam and ideas - substitute David Healy managed a shot on target in the 90th minute but it was not much of a challenge for Hart and it said everything that it was only Sunderland's second shot on target all game.

The game was a wet-blanket cast over all the early-season optimism of Sunderland fans and before the final whistle they had voted with their feet - thousands having streamed out of the stadium before Chris Foy put an end to Sunderland's misery.

Now those fans must hope this is an early warning heeded by their club's management and players.

It is far too early in the season to make rash judgments.

After all, Sunderland are 18th, yet had they won, they would have been top six.

But there are still an awful lot of issues raised and an awful lot to be sorted out on the evidence of this performance and result.

At least Roy Keane and his team have a fortnight to get to grips with it.