THE manager of the South Korean national side has launched a blistering attack on Ji Dong-won after he was forced to substitute the Sunderland striker at the half-time interval of this weekend's 2-0 win in the United Arab Emirates.

Ji was hauled off at half-time as South Korea maintained their unbeaten record in qualifying for the 2014 World Cup finals, with head coach Cho Kwang-Rae criticising his level of physical fitness.

Ji has not made a Premier League start since moving to Sunderland in the summer, but he played for more than 85 minutes of this month's 1-0 defeat at Manchester United and did not appear to be struggling with any injury problems at Old Trafford.

“Ji's condition was really bad,” said Cho. “He was not good in training so I considered not to play him and he was worse in the match than I thought. So I had to replace him at half-time.

“His balance is off and his shooting timing is slow. I think he's physically really poor now. I don't know if he can be better until we play against Lebanon (tomorrow).”

The implication is that Ji's physical fitness levels have dropped dramatically since he swapped South Korea for Sunderland, an assertion that is sure to be disputed by the Black Cats' medical staff.

Steve Bruce has been happy with the forward's gradual development on Wearside, and even travelled to South Korea last month to watch Ji play for his country.

With Connor Wickham set to be sidelined for a number of weeks after injuring his knee at Old Trafford, Ji is likely to become an important figure as Sunderland embark on a run of games that, on paper at least, appear to offer a decent opportunity for progress up the Premier League table.

The 20-year-old, who claimed his first league goal in September's 2-1 defeat to Chelsea, will hope to partner Nicklas Bendtner in Saturday's home game with Fulham, and with Stephane Sessegnon having impressed in a wide midfield role in recent weeks, Bruce will be loath to leave Ji out of his plans and change formation once again.

Meanwhile, Bendtner was among the goals at the weekend as he helped Denmark claim a 2-0 victory over a Sweden side that featured his club-mate Seb Larsson.

Bendtner converted Michael Krohn-Dehli's cross at the back post to maintain his fine recent run of scoring. Larsson will now travel to London and is expected to be part of the Sweden side that takes on England at Wembley tomorrow night.