Martin O’Neill is famed in part for his touchline antics, all hand gestures and bouncing up and down. Yet Paolo Di Canio, having already turned his Sunderland team around on the pitch, has also outdone the Northern Irishman on the touchline. The iconic celebrations during Sunderland’s astonishing display of counter attacking against fierce rivals Newcastle epitomised Di Canio – exuberant and passionate. Much like the O’Neill of old, of course. And Di Canio may well be a lunatic, as some would claim, but if so he is an eminently loveable one, even taking into account his alleged and questionable political beliefs.
What ultimately matters about Di Canio though are his actions as a football manager, rather than his contributions to the field of political philosophy. And what he has already done is the football equivalent of giving a patient who has just suffered a cardiac arrest a jolt with a defibrillator. He has brought back Sunderland from the dead, regardless of the recent inexplicable 6-1 defeat at Aston Villa, and their treatment has gone down well among the players he has inherited at the Stadium of Light.
According to David Vaughan, who produced an unexpectedly venomous strike into the top corner to open the scoring at St. James’s Park in the Tyne-Wear derby , Di Canio’s enthusiasm has been a huge boost, but is not his only quality. "He’s very enthusiastic and fiery, but he’s also got good tactical knowledge and gets us well organised, which we saw at Newcastle”, said Vaughan. "He made sure everyone was looking forward to the game on Sunday. It was an important game for us, but we had that belief that we could go there and win."
Di Canio refused to even discuss the 3-0 win over Newcastle with his squad, instead ensuring their focus was exclusively on future battles ahead as he looks to secure Sunderland’s future. A 1-0 win over Everton in the club’s next match suggested that safety is all but guaranteed, but the defeat at Villa Park has reopened small doubts. And Di Canio will take no chances. This is not a man who will leave small details to chance.
Whilst the Di Canio effect has been rightly lauded after such an instant impact, there is just cause to ask whether lady luck had smiled upon the Black Cats. After all, each of the four goals scored against Newcastle and Everton came from shots just outside the area and were more the product of individual brilliance following a mistake from the opposition rather than enterprising team play. Yet that this happened four times in two matches does indicate that Di Canio has instilled something previously missing – confidence – giving his players the belief to try the audacious. And for a second thing, freedom, encouraging his players to take up starting positions higher up the pitch in the hope that having to run less will make them fresher and more able to shoot cleanly when closing in on goal. Stephane Sessegnon, seemingly revitalised, has been allowed to play from a more advanced position with fewer defensive duties.
Sessegnon is typical of the Sunderland revival – suddenly playing with a desire not seen for months. Of course passion gets a side nowhere on its own, if it is not allied to skill, tactical discipline and intelligence, but equally it is impossible for a team fulfil their potential without that burning determination and desire to show what they can do.
It is ironic though that the former West Ham forward had to instil passion into this set of players, given who his predecessor was. O’Neill was left behind somewhat by modern football methods, but one of his strengths was always the ability to motivate and get his team to play with energy.
The reason for this is rooted probably in fitness. There is a suggestion that Di Canio was working with a squad whose fitness was lacking under O’Neill. The Northern Irishman enjoys a fine if slightly exaggerated reputation, but his teams suffer physically heading into the end of seasons and tend to stumble towards the summer months. O’Neill was of the school of ‘if you feel fit get out and play’, an approach which will naturally come up second best against the modern rotation system.
Di Canio was quick to stress the point about fitness, that the Black Cats needed to work to get up to the standard required. The Di Canio system will be particularly reliant on fitness; if teams reflect their managers, then Sunderland under the Italian are to become an intense and ultra-attacking outfit, who barely give opponents a moment to breathe.
O’Neill left Di Canio with quite a job on his hands to get to that stage. He tried to replicate what he did at Celtic and Aston Villa, by relying on pace and width, and usually tried and tested Premier League players. But his methods, instinctively cautious, emphasising the counter attack and neglecting central areas of the pitch in favour of the flanks, were becoming increasingly outdated in this modern Premier League climate. More and more the Premier League is about pressing higher up the pitch and using rapid passing movements to unlock defences. Di Canio at least brings with him a more modern approach to the game.
And crucial to the Di Canio effect is of course the much heralded passion. Famously uncompromising, the Italian’s admirers are familiar with the story of how at Swindon Town, Di Canio hauled off goalkeeper Wes Foderingham just 20 minutes into a game against Preston. And the time that he fought with his own striker Leon Clarke.
That kind of attitude is sure to keep his players on their feet, but there is a question mark over whether it will eventually rub some people up the wrong way. Being in the company of someone so intense all the time can be uplifting at first, but draining over time. This may well prove a well calculated gamble on the part of club owner Ellis Short, ensuring Sunderland benefit from the huge new television rights deal that will be shared among Premier League clubs next year. But it is difficult to see Di Canio being a long term success unless he mellows somewhat. "Often I refer to it as management by hand grenade", Nick Watkins, the former Swindon Town chief executive, said of Di Canio’s coaching methods. So far, it is working a treat, but it remains to be seen what will happen when Di Canio removes the pin and hurls it at someone.
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