Kevin Ball: 'Emanuele Giaccherini will play number 10'

Sunderland caretaker manager Kevin Ball has suggested that he will continue to utilise Emanuele Giaccherini in a more central position when he takes charge of their trip to Liverpool on Sunday.

Ball, who has been installed as temporary Black Cats boss following the sacking of Paolo Di Canio, employed Giaccherini, traditionally a winger, in a number-10 role when he oversaw the Capital One Cup victory over Peterborough United in midweek.

"We were debating how we wanted to set up on Tuesday and we were mindful of how well Peterborough had started the season," Ball told reporters. "We looked at how we could fit in among that and we said about playing Giaccy in the number 10 role and I thought he did it really well.

"There were bits that were excellent and there were bits that we will speak to him about and try to help him with. But he will be able to evaluate his own performance when he watches it back, so he can say 'maybe I could have done this or that'.

"I thought in the main though, he did really well, when you look at his movement and running. He put in an excellent shift, got a goal and deserved the applause he got when he came off."

Italian Giaccherini, 28, was the second most expensive of Di Canio's 14 summer signings, arriving from Juventus in a reported £6.6m switch.