Paolo Di Canio: Manchester City players acted like "piranhas"

Sunderland manager Paolo Di Canio has accused Manchester City players of acting like "piranhas" in the wake of the Roberto Mancini's sacking from the club.

The Italian was relieved of his duties at City this week and Di Canio feels that the players played a large part in his compatriot's downfall.

"The players, they are piranhas. They smell if you are weak and respond to it," The Telegraph quotes Di Canio as saying.

"They were far from Manchester United in the table, they went out of Champions League in the group stage. Mancini started something political with the board [about transfers].

"The players know. They saw a fault, a weakness and so it is easy for them to say 'now we relax'. It's easy to speculate in these moments but I don't agree completely he was too strict."

Mancini was sacked just 366 days after leading the club to the Premier League title.