The Paolo Di Canio Column

It is fantastic that one man has been with the same club for 10 years like David Moyes has at Everton, I will have played against his side just after he took charge!

He has done a great job. They are in some ways similar to Aston Villa in that they play the same style of football – aggressive but with quality – and they are always a difficult team for the top clubs to play against.

Being there for 10 years means he is a good manager and a good man. He has gelled completely with his board and they have the same idea. There is not a crazy board who would sack him as soon as they do not do well one season.

I remember Moyes took Everton to a sixth or seventh place finish and some boards might think that he would have to improve on that, but it is not always possible.

After that there was a season they finished 12th but the board did not sack him because with the players he had there he did his best.

A club like Everton, who maintain the same manager and same principle then you can have 10, 20 or 30 years playing at the top level with the satisfaction of reaching a cup final and playing at Wembley every few years.

They are a club who do not spend crazy money and try to bring through good talent and that is a good mix so I am very happy for him and for Everton because they have fantastic fans.

I hope that if I am here next season and the target is we want to go up but do not start well the board will not decide immediately ‘oh we are bad we need to change’, otherwise it would mean they are silly.

It would be silly to sack the manager who won something straight away because it is not easy to better this so soon after. You can maintain and you can see there is a transition.

Jeremy Wray and the board here are very good and they would not be like this but you can never know what could happen.

There are managers in Italy who got their side promoted two years in a row up to Serie A and within three games – one defeat, one draw and one win – they were sacked because the result was said to be not good enough.

There is too much pressure sometimes, for Moyes he has not had that and he has been able to build his own squad over 10 years with Everton.”

Paolo on...what he looks for in a player.

Attitude is the most important. Obviously a player has to have talent but talent without attitude is nothing.

A player who is 27 but doesn’t want to change his attitude then you have poison. You have a talented player but his attitude can break the atmosphere with the other players.

Lots of people can recognise talent but not everyone can recognise the attitude and the commitment.

A player can always improve their talent, but to improve attitude is not always easy.

I have seen other players in this division who looking from a distance I think are very talented but then I read their stats and see one game in, three games out, another game in and another three games out.

Looking into it more then I understand why. Nightclub, party with girls the night before a game - I can’t have this kind of player.

We behave very well, we have more talent and we stay at the top of the division.

If we want to achieve exactly what we want to achieve then the attitude is the most important. Then it is their physical presence and finally their overall quality.

Paolo on...Tevez potential return for Manchester City.

“I am not sure what to think about this. If you need him because the result of the team is more important then I can understand why they bring him back.

But if you want to send a signal to the young players for the future to try to play well then it is not right to let it appear that you will accept some kind of behaviours.

The second situation cannot be possible though, because every day Mario Balotelli does something wrong but is still not out of the club, then how can you expect that Tevez remains out of the club until the end of the season. So it is predictable that Tevez comes back.

If Manchester City do not win the title it will be because of this situation because although he has shown he is able to sign talented players and get the team playing good quality football, but the group do not forget.

It may be okay when they play well but once they start to lose position they will probably start to think, ‘it is not fair that we work so hard yet this guy who has done many things wrong and he is still being given his place on the field.’

If there are rules, they should apply to everyone. Tevez can maybe help them but he could also signal the end of the discipline or the belief that the players have in the manager.

They will maybe start to wonder if he is an honest manager, or if he has an honest face.

The players judge you as a manager every second of every day. If you say one word they will remember that the day before you said something different.

For this reason a manager has to be psychologically strong. If you are winning games it is not so bad because if you, like Manchester City are, you are out of the FA Cup, out of the Carling Cup and out of the Champions League and then if they do not win the league then I can’t imagine people will say they had a fantastic season.

Paolo on...the Premier League title race.

“There was a balance because Manchester United still have a lot of strength. The fact that Paul Scholes came back out of retirement to play again means that Sir Alex Ferguson knows what he wants and needs to win the title.

He realised straight away he needed more experience in the middle and with Ryan Giggs and some other older players there they have a real chance to win the title.

Roberto Mancini does not really have that experience at Manchester City, he has many, many talented players but I still don’t see that he has the shape or system that can bring them the title.

So for this it will be even. In my opinion it will still be Manchester City against Manchester United for the title with three games remaining.

I can’t see either Manchester City or United losing three or four games in a row so in my opinion the game between the two sides will be crucial.

United have a bit of advantage. City started the season at the top with United behind them but now they jump in front.

Now they are there they have the players who can handle the pressure but for City I am not sure. They improved a lot since last year defensively but they have not shown yet that they are a team with knowledge and pedigree.

They have some fantastic individuals but still don’t really play as a team. If they can improve and become more together before the end of the season they still have a chance, otherwise I see United winning with a big advantage.”