Gary Bennett: “Sunderland fans could tell you the problems that have been obvious for years now, but have not been addressed, and now need to be looked at urgently.
“We need a good young centre-half with pace, we need a central midfielder who can put his foot on the ball and dictate the game – nothing against Seb Larsson who does a job on the wing, but he was never the answer in central midfeld – we need more goalscorers, some might mention a left-back or a right-back.
“We need more leaders, more characters, more talkers because as a team we’re too nice.
“But this has been going on for a while now, and it has been allowed to reach quite a serious stage.
“Before-hand, a year or two ago, we needed maybe three or four in and three or four out.
“Now it is something like seven or eight in, seven or eight out.
“I think it is going to be a big summer for the club – Di Canio might struggle more to get players out, than to get them in – but at least it is clear that he has a massive appetite for the job.
“Sunderland are going to need every bit of that enthusiasm and desire, plus a lot of nous, and maybe even a little bit of luck, if the fans are to get back to getting the sort of team their amazing support deserves.”