Paulo tells players not to moan

PAOLO DI CANIO has told his stars not to moan about having their time off slashed — because it is not like they are working down a coalmine!
The Sunderland chief has axed the players’ regular midweek day off since taking over a fortnight ago.
But the workaholic boss has also been leading by example and putting in extra long shifts himself.
He revealed that he and key backroom staff have been working up until three in the morning in a bid to ensure the Black Cats’ Premier League survival.
But the Italian, 44, insisted: “Maybe people think I am crazy, but this is my life, my mission and I want to become the best.
“When I go mad it is because we are talking about one-and-a-half hours on the Wednesday on the pitch, playing football.
“We are not talking about miners. It is not spending eight hours digging 300 metres underground.
“It is not even six hours jumping up to the trees, even though that can be a fun moment.
“We’re talking about 90 minutes which gives you the opportunity to improve tactically and physically.
“Some footballers say they need to rest Wednesday because of the pressure. What pressure?
“On Saturdays after we lost I saw many sad faces in my time so why not work harder to have more days smiling?”
Di Canio’s tactics have had an almost immediate effect.
The Black Cats hammered bitter rivals Newcastle 3-0 last Sunday.
And a win today against Everton would go a long way to ensuring survival.
But Di Canio insists he is only doing the same as when he took charge at Swindon and led the Wiltshire club to promotion to League One at the first attempt.
He added: “We have to change the mentality here as this is a bigger club with big expectations.
“We start at 8.30am and work until midnight, maybe two or three o’clock in the morning. In the first three months at Swindon it was exactly the same.
“After one year at Swindon maybe we left the office at eight o’clock some nights but only because I wanted to cook for my staff as I am a good chef.
“The players obviously don’t have to work 24 hours a day.
“But I think for some of the players they are also happy to work on a Wednesday.
“It becomes a habit and they must realise it can be an advantage.
“When I was at West Ham the mentality was always Sunday and Wednesday off, but I was always in on a Wednesday to work on my game.
“This is why a rubbish ex-footballer was a competitive guy for many years.
“In England you had the warriors who were physically stronger than me but I did quite a good job against them with my body as I used to work hard.
“I was never a great goalscorer before I came to England but here the vast percentage of my goals came in the last quarter-of-an-hour.
“I was still performing to a high level and the opponents were tired.”
Di Canio also got stuck in to Sunderland’s under-performing stars on an individual basis.
Adam Johnson has consistently failed to live up to expectations following a £10million move from Manchester City last summer.
But the England winger is looking back to his best under Di Canio and smashed home a stunning goal in Sunday’s victory at Newcastle.
Di Canio revealed: “I kicked Adam’s bottom a few times during a session in a friendly way.
“I told him we can argue that it was the previous manager’s fault, but now no more excuses.
“We have to be clear. It is all about the mentality.
“He was another guy that, when I watched a few of Sunderland’s games, once he lost the ball it was a case of ‘I don’t care now, you try to work for me’.
“It was not because he is a bad professional, but now he has discovered that it is important to mutually work together.
“I told him if you work hard we will give you the opportunity to play your football in the right place. But you have to work hard physically during training all week.
“You hope that the words are enough.
“And, to be honest, he has done a fantastic job so far. We never had a bad word even when there was a session of running without the ball.
“Normally the fantasy player doesn’t want to run without the ball but he was ready, so credit has to go to him.
“He took this as an opportunity to change and improve and there is much more to come from Adam.”
Di Canio heads into his first game at the Stadium of Light against high-flying Everton today insisting the Mackems should not be fighting for Premier League survival.
The Italian stopped short of blaming sacked predecessor Martin O’Neill.
But he said: “I’ve seen Reading, QPR, Aston Villa and Stoke play and it’s a shame we are in this position.
“We should have more than 34 points. I don’t know what has happened but we have the quality to stay in mid-table.”

 

Aj still has a lot to do, workshy bassatard.

 

I've a feeling that Paolo is just the lad to get the best out of AJ.