Sunderland boss Roy Keane is ready to swing the axe after their defeat to Stoke City.

He fumed: "We started sloppy. This was our worst performance of the season.

"I only made one change to the team, I left Pascal Chimbonda out and brought in Phil Bardsley because I felt he might have trouble playing three matches in a week. With hindsight perhaps I should have made a few more.

"We invited trouble onto ourselves and we didn't really express ourselves. Our passing was the biggest disappointment for me."