Paolo Di Canio reflects on jump ‘from Accrington to Chelsea’

Paolo Di Canio admitted it was a big jump ‘from Accrington to Chelsea’ after watching his side throw away a lead on his top-flight management debut.

Cesar Azpilicueta put through his own net to give the Black Cats a deserved half-time lead but Matt Kilgallon’s own goal and a Branislav Ivanovic back-heel gave Chelsea the points.

It leaves Sunderland precariously close to the Premier League trap door and Di Canio, whose only previous experience as a boss was in League One and Two with Swindon, vowed to make his struggling squad fitter in order to compete with the best footballers in the country.

He said: “The big difference is we’re playing not against Accrington but against Eden Hazard and Oscar – top footballers in the world.

“Before I used to prefer only a win but the strategy is a bit different [in the Premier League] because of the opponents and the way they keep the ball.

“This is not the fittest team in the world. But we are going to work to give them more energy in the next few days and weeks.

“Some of them have told me that what we did in the last few days was a fantastic job because we used more time on our shape, tactical and technical things. This is what they need.”

Of the performance at Stamford Bridge, Di Canio said: “I was more than happy with the first half.

“We were well organised, ran and ran very hard and we went in 1-0 up at half-time which we deserved.

“The second half is different especially because after one minute we conceded a goal when we were in the opponent’s box, and they countered and scored.”

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