I made Danny Collins man-of-the-match on Saturday but Kieran really caught my eye for the sheer amount of ground he covered either tackling back or pressing forward.

He's one of those players that it wouldn't surprise me at all if other clubs, higher up in the division, were interested in at the end of the season.

And I think that's he a much better, more effective player than he was last season.

He's fitter and stronger. Faster too.

All of which must make my criticism of him seem a little harsh, because I don't think he's scoring enough goals.

Harsh because his fourth goal of the season makes him the club's third top scorer. Harsh because he's scored more goals than the rest of Sunderland's midfield put together. Harsh because he's hit the woodwork at Fulham and Newcastle and had a perfectly good goal chalked off at Craven Cottage.

But you always tend to be tougher on your most talented players and I think that he should be getting on the scoresheet more with the ability he's got.

If there's one thing I've banged on about more than anything else, it's the need for midfield players to get into the box at every opportunity.

When I was playing in midfield as a youngster, I was ordered to get into the box at least 10 times every half – simply because that's where the goals are.

It's worth it trying to get in there every chance you get because sooner or later the ball will come to you.

With Kieran he's often operating outside the box and we've seen plenty of shots from range. I can understand it to a certain extent because Kewnyne Jones and Djibril Cisse score most of our goals and Kieran is probably hanging around the outside of the box looking to help get the ball into them.

But Saturday was a case in point, Kieran gets in the box and he scores.

I'm a big admirer of his and it's a big blow to the club to lose him for the next couple of games because of his 10th booking.

But when he returns, I would like to see him trying to get in the box more because I think he has the capacity to be a 10-goal a season midfielder, every season.

And if he does that, then people like Fabio Capello will start to take notice.