Sunderland found themselves outclassed on Boxing Day, as they were torn apart in the first half by Manchester United.

Roy Keane handed a late Christmas present to Martyn Waghorn - giving the 17 year old his first team debut alongside Kenwyne Jones in a side that had three changes, with Waghorn replacing Andy Cole, while Daryl Murphy and Grant Leadbitter made way for Ross Wallace and Dickson Etuhu respectively. Kieran Richardson was named on our subs bench, after recovering from the back injury he got in August.

Waghorn was in good form from the off, winning a throw in off of Rio Ferdinand in the second minute as we launched some early pressure on the Reds. Danny Higginbotham's free kick was cleared away, as was Ross Wallace's cross, but once we'd had a few tries at going forward, we were quickly put under the cosh. Cristiano Ronaldo saw a 10th minute free kick saved by Craig Gordon, before Wayne Rooney killed an attack dead after being flagged offside.

Dickson Etuhu came close with a left footed shot on 14 minutes after he turned past Michael Carrick, but a goal on the break put United ahead five minutes later, when a one-two between Wes Brown and Cristiano Ronaldo left a perfect opportunity for Rooney to slot the ball past Gordon.

We tried to get back into it, with Jones and Waghorn going forward, only to be crowded out before they could muster a shot on goal, but United regained control and hit the net a second time on the half hour mark when Rooney's cross found Louis Saha in a perfect place at the back post to tuck the ball past Gordon to double the visitors' advantage. United kept up the pressure, although Tomasz Kuszczak had to poke over Wallace's shot on 40 minutes, while Rooney waited with intent to get a third goal as Michael Chopra was almost made to pay for losing the ball.

Cristiano Ronaldo did make it 3-0 for the visitors just before the break, smashing home a free kick from 20 yards out in first half stoppage time after a foul on Darren Fletcher by Dickson Etuhu. Sunderland were being outclassed by United, and it seemed to be more of a case of "how many would they win by?"

Grant Leadbitter replaced Ross Wallace at half time, with Martyn Waghorn going on the left wing for the second half, but it made little difference as United contolled the game without breaking much of a sweat. Ronaldo nearly grabbed a second goal early on after a Danny Collins backpass was woefully underhit towards Gordon, allowing the Portuguese winger in on goal, while our forays forward were cut out by Kuszczak, with Kenwyne Jones' 20 yard effort being the best of the bunch.

Kieran Richardson came off the bench on the hour mark to make his first appearance for us in four months, and that change almost sparked something in the Sunderland side, as Grant Leadbitter had a chance to pull a goal back following a poor goal kick from Kuszczak, but the midfielder failed to get a shot off in time and ended up losing the ball.

Sunderland did pick up slightly towards the end, with Chopra shooting just wide on 71 minutes, but United pounced again as Craig Gordon had to punch away Wayne Rooney's shot moments later as Grant Leadbitter saw his free kick at the other end headed away by Rio Ferdinand. We had another scare when Waghorn lost the ball, only for Rooney to completely miss the target, but United did add a fourth goal at the death.

It came from the spot after Danny Collins had apparantly tripped Nani in the box - up stepped Saha to sent Gordon the wrong way and complete the rout, thus sending us down to second off the bottom of the Premiership.

We said it wasn't going to be an easy season, but results are going to have to start improving - or the current crop of players could find themselves on their way out once the transfer window re-opens in the New Year.

Sunderland: Gordon, Whitehead, McShane, Higginbotham, Collins, Chopra (sub 86, O'Donovan), Etuhu, Yorke (sub 61, K Richardson), Wallace (sub 46, Leadbitter), Jones, Waghorn. Subs: Ward, Cole.

Manchester United: Kuszczak, O'Shea, Ferdinand, Vidic (sub 73, Pique), Brown, Ronaldo (sub 57, Park), Fletcher, Carrick, Nani, Rooney, Saha. Subs: Heaton, Evra, Tevez.