Di Canio Questions Sunderland Fitness

[Folami David]

New manager Paolo Di Canio questioned the fitness of his Sunderland players after they surrendered a halftime lead to lose 2-1 at Chelsea in the Premier League on Sunday.
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An own goal by Cesar Azpilicueta gave Di Canio's side a surprise advantage against the European champions before Chelsea hit back with another own goal from Matthew Kilgallon and a flick by defender Branislav Ivanovic.
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Sunderland, who brought in Italian Di Canio during the week after dispensing with the services of Martin O'Neill, are deep in relegation trouble.
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They are 17th in the table, level on 31 points with third from bottom Wigan Athletic having played one game more than Roberto Martinez's side.
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"I know what the players can give to me in terms of energy and obviously we have a short time from now until the end of the season," Di Canio told reporters, referring to their last six games of the campaign.
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"The most important is their attention because Chelsea's goals came from two mistakes.
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"I don't want to say the players aren't fit but they aren't the fittest in the world. We are going to work and give them more energy in the next few days," Di Canio added.
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"I was more than happy with the first half - we were well organised and ran very hard ... the second half was very different."
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Di Canio's arrival at Sunderland has been overshadowed by his past, with the media focusing on his professed admiration of Italian wartime dictator Benito Mussolini and a 2005 declaration that he was "a fascist, not a racist".
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His post-match news conference at Stamford Bridge, the Italian's first match in charge, began with a plea from Sunderland's media adviser for football-only questions.
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One reporter ignored the request and made a query about fascism. Di Canio replied: "What a sinner you are. Come on. Come on."
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Chelsea's victory took them up to third in the table, level on 58 points with fourth-placed Tottenham Hotspur and with a game in hand on their London rivals as they chase an automatic Champions League spot.

[Shola Sholaz]

The coach hasn't had a great start as far as i'm concerned. He needs to work harder to improve Sunderland FC