RLB ON MANAGING EXPECTATIONS

RLB has been talking about the derby and managing expectations for it, adding in some comments on his experience of the Derby Breton.

PRE-MATCH RITUALS BEFORE BIG GAME

“Nothing different, to be fair. I try to be connected to the game plan, to get ready for anything, open-minded. When I’m on the sideline I try to help the squad as much as possible, it’s not easy.”

MANAGING EXPECTATIONS

“For us, it remains football with 11 players against 11 and four players, five players on the bench will help the squad. We try to stay grounded, for me it’s the main point. We’ll have the tactical side and we’ll have the energy of the squad. It’s always a balance to find the right level, try to be smart but try to give as much as possible on the pitch as well. It’s more about feeling sometimes, as usual I would say with the quality of the opponent.”

SCORING LATE GOALS

“We try, once again, and this is always good for the scenario. If we go all the way with good discipline, good energy, we don’t know how we’ll react to the opponent but what we can control we try to be good at and after that, the scenario is unpredictable.”

HAVE LOCAL LADS EXPLAINED THE DERBY?

“Not really, we had our usual meeting about the opponent and we kept exactly the same routine. This is Newcastle, how they build up, how they press and so on, and after that go for us and try to be the best version of Sunderland once again.”

EXPERIENCE OF DERBY BRETON

“It was a bit different, it was Lorient versus Brest. We won sometimes, we lost sometimes. It’s more around, I think, for the coaches and the manager. We have our focus for the game and then after the game, we lose, we win, we have another game to prepare for. We don’t have time to think about it.”