Sunderland defender John O'Shea has played down reports of a rift with manager Paolo Di Canio.

O'Shea was publicly criticized by Di Canio after being sent off in Sunderland's 3-1 defeat to Crystal Palace recently, and reports suggested the pair were not seeing eye to eye anymore.

However, the former Manchester United player refuted those reports, saying he had absolutely no problems with Di Canio and everything was being blown out of proportion due to the Italian's exuberant personality.

"He (Di Canio) rang me the next day, and all is nice," O'Shea said. "Getting criticized is one of those things and that is his style of management.

"What he had to say to me is private, but let me put it to you this way, it was him calling me.

"The criticism does not bother me in the slightest. It is water off a duck's back to someone like me.

"Because he is such a passionate man, everything he does is getting hyped up. The only thing I am annoyed about is the fact that I let the team down."

Meanwhile, goalkeeper Kieren Westwood also backed Di Canio's man management style.

"(Di Canio) is like any manager, he wants you to do well," Westwood told The Journal. "He puts demands on you and he's not going to make it easy for you.

"You've got to play well -- if you're a professional footballer you want to play well for your team-mates and your fans anyway. It's not just about the manager. He puts pressures on you but every manager will do the same.

"We're OK, we're a good side. We just need to believe and have trust in each other. That will come - we just need to keep going.

"We've got extra players coming in so we'll see. Thirteen new signings are what we've got but when the players are good enough -- as these guys are -- you should be able to gel.

"We don't feel like strangers. We spent a lot of time together over the summer and luckily the gaffer managed to get most of his signings in before we went away for preseason."