Sunderland will receive a fullback boost at the weekend in the form of a fit-again Dennis Cirkin. With Chris Mepham suspended, the left back is expected to come straight into the starting 11 with Luke O'Nien reverting back to centre half and Trai Hume once again taking up a position on the right.
Le Bris also spoke about Chris Rigg and Jobe Bellingham, who are on four bookings each but only have to manage one more game before the five booking rule resets. This reset also means that Chris Mepham cannot pick up another suspension - he's on four yellows but will miss Saturday's game and will then go back to scratch.
BIG STRENGTH
“The back four is probably a big strength for us because we have many options even with suspensions or injuries. With Dennis we know he’s a good player and he has played very well so far so if he is available it is good for us.”
BOOKINGS RESET AFTER STOKE
“They (Rigg and Jobe) have to manage for one more game and obviously on the pitch you have to make the right decision for the flow of the game and to avoid a counter-attack for example. So we will see. So far they have managed the situation properly and it was the case for Trai [Hume] as well for a long period but at the end he received a fifth yellow card for an offensive action and we could have scored and we didn't and that’s the game.”
SCORE MORE GOALS
"It’s always difficult to assess what we need to be more efficient. Because for example, in the three last games we created many chances. More than our opponents. At the end of the games we only won two points, so that’s not good for sure."
KEY PLAYERS MISSING
“It’s a question of collective dynamic and a question of improving many details and some of these details are not the only ones, it’s also players being available. We know when some players like Romaine [Mundle] are able to score even with small chances. He’s important for us but at the moment he is not available and we have to deal with this situation and we won’t wait for him to score again."
STILL DEVELOPING
"I think we have many elements to develop in our team and that’s probably the only focus we should have at the minute. I hope we can create more chances and then we have to convert the chances we have, to score. I think we have the potential and we have the players in the team right now to do it.”
