Régis Le Bris issued this clear message to Sunderland players and fans at the end of frustrating week
Sunderland drew three games in seven days and struggled to produce their best performance levels
Régis Le Bris has urged Sunderland not to lose sight of their impressive start to the Championship campaign despite the frustration of their second-half collapse against Coventry City.
The Black Cats looked to be in a dominant position at half time thanks to stunning strikes from Wilson Isidor and Dennis Cirkin, but were outplayed in the second and were forced to settle for a point after goals from Haji Wright and Jack Rudoni.
It brought a frustrating week to a bitterly disappointing end, even if Sunderland remain top of the division. Sunderland had been well short of their best in their previous two fixtures against QPR and Preston North End, meaning they are winless in three.
Le Bris says he is under no illusions about the need for improvement and will address the two most recent under-par displays in video analysis sessions with the squad this week. He also added, however, that there were positives to take from the way his side were maintaining an unbeaten run despite not being at their best. The Sunderland head coach also felt it was important not to lose sight of just how well his side had played in the first half, with their home record this season generally very impressive.
“Every game is a new opportunity to learn,” Le Bris said.
“We'll assess this game and Preston very closely, we'll have two reviews with the players and the ideas will be clear. We have the first half as well, the way we played. We weren't able to maintain this quality of performance in the second half, maybe fatigue and maybe the inability to solve problems in real time - an idea can be clear in our meeting and in the mind of the players, but it is different on the pitch. It is about distances, connection and timing and against Coventry we weren't able to do it in the second half. Even if we didn't have control, we still had the quality to create chances on the counter attack and we could have killed the game.
“We have to keep the consistency as a coach, staff and the fans as well - it is still a good start with 31 points from 15 games,” he added.
“The first half showed we have quality, now we have to be more consistent. This is the next challenge for us.As a coach, it is very important to keep the right level of emotion because football is unpredictable. Sometimes you deserve to win but you don't and sometimes it is the other way. Coventry was the result you expect when you play as we did in the first half and then in the second. We have to keep learning, we have a lot of quality to develop and a lot of elements to build on. I'm looking forward to that. Even with a bad second half, and we didn't play well at Preston - we didn't lose. Even at a low point, the level is not too low. Hopefully now we go on an upward curve.”
Sunderland face a daunting trip to Millwall after the international break given that Trai Hume, Patrick Roberts and Jobe Bellingham are all suspended - but Le Bris hopes the break will generally serve his squad well with clear signs of fatigue on show in their last two games.