EMANUELE Giaccherini is confident he can make an impact in his second year at Sunderland after overcoming a difficult first season in the Premier League.

Giaccherini arrived at the Stadium of Light in a deal worth £8m from Juventus last summer, but the Italian midfielder struggled as the Black Cats fought to survive relegation to the Championship.

Sunderland’s capture of the 29-year-old was regarded as a major coup at the time, but supporters are yet to see the best of the attacker in red and white.

An ankle injury has prevented Giaccherini linking up with the Italy squad this week, but once he returns, Giaccherini is confident he can justify the hefty price-tag Sunderland paid for his services.

“[I'll be back] in November”, Giaccherini said. “Next week I will return to Newcastle and begin my rehabilitation. A little time on the bike, in the swimming pool and then we'll see how things go.

“It's a pity. I had managed to find the perfect formula.

“After a year of adaptation in the Premier League, I am ready to do well with Sunderland.”

The Wearsiders registered their first league win of the season against Stoke last weekend.

Twelve months ago, the Black Cats, then managed by Poalo Di Canio, went into the international break having failed to win any of their opening seven games.

There was a danger history would repeat itself this term, but after securing their maiden victory against the Potters, Gus Poyet believes his team is beginning to take shape.

“I know how many people in the club who have said ‘Come on, last year we were worse’,” the Black Cats boss said.

“It’s simple, because the first thing you see is where you are and where you’ve been. But also, we’ve been playing in a certain way because of the players that we brought in.

“Everything is coming together, it’s not just one thing, one result. We needed a win to confirm that, and it’s only one way: believing and doing it.

“I always say to the players ‘We can plan the game the best you can, and be outstanding in planning and presentations. But at the end of the day you need to do it at three o’clock'.

“We believe in what we do, we just need to make sure we put the points on the table.”

With a large chunk of his squad away representing their countries, Poyet admitted the international break can be a frustrating time for Premier League managers.

The head coach recruited nine players during the summer with some arriving after the season had started, and the Uruguayan admits it has been difficult to put his beliefs and ideas into practice.

He said: “I would love to be in this situation [with a fully-recruited squad] before playing the first game of the season.

“But the transfer window finishes after the third or fourth game, and that doesn’t help. It’s no excuse, maybe everybody’s the same. But for me it’s a problem.

“Now, the quicker they get that vision the better we’re going to be on the pitch, and that’s up to me, how you convince the players.

“Sometimes you work on things in the week. Me, I like to work in pre-season. Now, because (during international breaks) there are players who are not here, there are things we don’t work on.

“You can say to me ‘that was wrong’ because we had the chance to work in any way with some players. But from the players we had in pre-season, half are not going to be there.

“We can work on certain things that maybe we had one session on in pre-season. Now with the second and the third (sessions), we have just started.

“It’s a simple thing in football. That should be clear.”