PAOLO Di Canio has declared that he saw a definite improvement in his side’s performance as they cruised to a 3-0 friendly win over Salisbury City on Friday evening.
He said: “There was an improvement from the previous game against Supermarine but it’s obvious that we have to be ready for the start of the season with 11 days to go. I want to see my players extend their quality, commitment, discipline and desire. Today I expected 65, 70 minutes of this. I said at half time that we would start the second half with the starting 11 and I wanted to see us play the same way but that didn’t happen. The last 20 minutes I did enjoy because Rooney and De Vita came on and did well.”
Di Canio also warned that his squad are not at their peak in the run-up to the new season but went on to say that he was looking forward to getting back to playing on The County Ground turf.
“Not many are ready,” he said. “If we perform like at Supermarine and at times tonight then we are not ready. We have to be honest at this moment we are not ready. When you play on a surface like this it’s not easy this is why I was impressed with my players. In the second half we changed the ball to give them a more comfortable way to play.
“It’s difficult to play against Salisbury and Supermarine and give your best. I know that in a week’s time we play against a top side at our ground on a beautiful surface and there we have to extend maybe not for 90 minutes but 70, 75 minutes with the quality that we saw today in the first half.”
