Having drawn five in a row, Sunderland head to Bramall Lane where tomorrow's opponents have won their last seven home games without conceding a goal. Regis Le Bris is looking forward to the challenge though and says the team need to be ready to deal with all kinds of challenges in this league.
DIFFERENT PLAY STYLE
“I don’t know if it will be the opposite (to WBA) but it will be different for sure. It is still the case in this league that there are always tough challenges and different styles of play. For us, we need to be very versatile - with the game model, with how we press, how we defend in the final third, how we can unbalance the midfield and how we can finish, and set pieces."
STRONG IN EVERY PHASE
"We have to be strong in every phase and against different opponents maybe two or three phases are more important in one game and in another game it will be two or three other phases. So, it depends on the situation. We can start with one scenario and finish with another one. A well-rounded team is absolutely required in this league. So far these foundations are getting better and better, it is not perfect but we feel that we can trust different phases and now we have to master them a little bit more.”
CAN A TEAM EVER BE PERFECT?
“Perfect? I don’t think so. But consistent. I think to be fair, it was like that for 75 minutes against West Brom. Just the finishing zone wasn’t perfect, but we pressed very well high up the pitch man for man, the zonal defending was proactive and we have spoken about that. I like the behaviour of the team and their willingness to press. Our build-up was good, we created chances and unbalanced them but the finishing wasn’t good enough because we had five or six opportunities to score. Now we probably have to be more clinical and we have to create more chances. These are the two elements we can improve. Our set pieces are obviously still a good option - we scored at Millwall but we didn’t score against West Brom.”
SHEFF UTD GOOD FORM
“It is still football and I think we have a strong team, we can manage different situations. We are really excited by this new challenge and we are ready to go.”
PREMIER LEAGUE FIXTURE
“We are still in the Championship! I hope one day that will happen, but at the minute this is still a Championship game. It is a good challenge, very exciting, new scenario, new elements to master probably and a different style of team. We need strong opponents to keep growing and to find our limits and push them, and to recognise that we are doing well. Sometimes when we struggle with five draws in a row we can say that it is not perfect, but we played at a very tough place in Millwall and played against West Brom, and we did well even if we didn’t win. This new challenge in that mindset is very interesting for us.”
10 UNBEATEN OR 5 WINLESS?
“It is not that simple. I think just after the game, from an emotional point of view it is still difficult because we did well. For example in the last game against West Brom it was really a good team, and we managed that game like we wanted to manage it. We knew how we could win that game, and we were just on the edge. We could have even lost at the end because of their one counter-attack, but football is like that. Sometimes you deserve to win and you don’t win, and sometimes you don’t deserve to win and you win. It is a balance. The staff and the more experienced players are there to explain we just need to keep the balance and consistency. Trust the game model, trust your players, trust the team because we are doing well even if this period is more difficult.”
BALANCE
“If we can find the extra high energy while keeping the same level on the other side of the game, that is the right balance. We don’t have to rush our process. If we want to implement new ideas but we create a new imbalance in what we have built before, it is not the right direction. It is still a difficult situation because we know that we are very strong in some parts of the game, but at the same time maybe five or six or seven people are missing. So, it is a question of balance and I hope we will find the right balance tomorrow.”
UNDERDOGS FOR ONCE
“I don’t know exactly. Probably when you are top of the table the opponent respects you a little bit more, because you are first and in that situation their players are really more focused. If they can lose 10% or 20% concentration against us, then perfect! But I don’t expect many things about the opponent, the only point we have to focus on is our game.”
