Given is making progress following a "worrying'' recurrence of groin trouble, but Allardyce refuses to set a date for his return.

Already ruled out of Ireland's friendly in Denmark this Wednesday, Given may now struggle to make the games on 8 and 12 September.

Allardyce said: "Shay is improving, slowly, but there's no fixed date on when he's going to come back.

"Steve Harper is doing fine and we want to have them both fit obviously because, behind that, we're very light.

Shay is one of the top keepers in the country and certainly in Europe, if not the world, and was without a prior injury record. I thought, at one stage, it might be too frustrating for Steve to carry on here, but he's been fantastic.

"However, we haven't really got an experienced keeper beyond them, so we'll probably be looking for one. Ideally, that would initially be a loan.

"It's a difficult spot to fill, with us having two good keepers here. They've both been as fit as fiddles but all of a sudden Shay has had a few injuries he's never had before and that is worrying him and worrying us . . . and we want to eradicate that completely.

"I want to give him enough time to completely get over the injuries because, while the latest is not in the same place, it's in the same area and obviously we need to make sure we strengthen those areas and dispel any fears in his mind that it's going to happen again . . .because that's what will cause it to happen again.

"I hope it doesn't become a psychological thing for him, but these things do prey on people's minds. Shay had two injuries in a similar area last season and now he has had another one before the start of this season.

"That's why taking the medical staff 's and specialist's advice is a critical area now. You then stop the player getting back too quickly.

"You want him back, but you have to take the professional advice, hold the player back and make sure it's better in the long term that he misses one or two more games than rushes back and has a recurrence.'' Meanwhile, Sunderland manager Roy Keane believes Paul McShane's "no-nonsense'' defending will be just what his side need this season. Keane signed the 21-yearold Ireland international from West Brom last month in a deal worth an initial �1.5m.

Keane, who knew all about McShane from their time at Manchester United, said:"We're delighted with Paul. He's done relatively well . . . I'm sure he might have been disappointed with the own goal and possibly the second goal the other night at Birmingham, but he's settled in very well.

"Obviously I know Paul from close quarters and he'll do very well for us over the season. He's an old-fashioned defender, definitely.

"You would possibly class him as old school. He's a kind of no-nonsense defender . . .he'll clear and ask questions later and there's nothing wrong with that.

"There are a lot of stylish centre-halves who like to get on the ball. That's all well and good but I think there will be times this year when we are under extreme pressure, like last weekend against Spurs and the other night, where you need your no-nonsense defenders . . . and I do like them.

"If you want to achieve anything, the spine of your team has to be pretty solid and strong and hopefully we'll be OK in those areas, and the likes of Paul will stay fit.''