Sunderland mauling: Vito Mannone vows to repay Sunderland fans

Guy Poyet's side were left licking their wounds after Southampton ran riot in Premier League action, racking up eight goals with the hosts' incisive attack supplemented by some woeful Wearside defending.

Southampton struck three times in the first half, while they added another five after the break as Ronald Koeman's men produced a club-record top-flight win and heaped further misery on their beleaguered opponents.

The embarrassing defeat left Sunderland hovering just a point above the relegation zone, with just one league win thus far.

And Mannone vowed to do everything possible to repay the fans that travelled to St Mary's Stadium - believed to be around 2,500.

"I will personally talk to the team to see if it is possible to pay for their tickets and their trip," said the Italian.

"It is difficult for us but it's very difficult for them as well. It is a difficult moment.

"We will go through it during the week. We will have time

"The Premier League is really difficult. We have a tough game again at home, so there is no time to feel sorry for ourselves. We need to react.

"I really mean that we should pay their tickets and travel.

"I will do everything possible.
"We should do it because we didn't put our foot [down], we didn't work hard."

Mannone added: "They are special fans. We are really lucky to be at this club and have these fans.

"If it was me, I would probably not react in the same way. I can only be proud to wear this shirt.

"I need to do my best and each of us in the team should do our best to make them feel proud of this club and not have 8-0 defeats."