Di Canio fears 'killer pitch' and terrible weather

Sunderland manager Paolo Di Canio, on Friday, expressed fears that the “killer pitch” of Hong Kong Stadium might hurt his players in Saturday’s match against Manchester City.

Tottenham Hotspur‘s Jan Vertonghen suffered an injury in Wednesday’s match against Sunderland in the 2013 Barclays Asia Trophy and could miss the start of the Premier League season, reports Xinhua.

The 40,000-capacity Hong Kong Stadium was battered by heavy rain, which made the pitch unplayable. More rain has pounded Hong Kong since and wet weather has been forecast for Saturday.

“It’s obvious that I couldn’t imagine this kind of weather,” said Di Canio. “But we have to handle the situation. We changed our training session a bit this morning. We couldn’t play on the field and players were not happy because they were without balls.”

“For tomorrow’s match I hope that the rain can stop and maybe we can have a dry pitch, otherwise it will be difficult.”

“I’m concerned about the safety of my players. This is a killer pitch with this weather. It’s dangerous,” said Di Canio.