Sunderland boss explains his Wilson Isidor decision and Ian Poveda's absence at Sheffield Wednesday
Sunderland have suffered another injury setback
Sunderland are waiting to discover the extent of Ian Poveda’s latest injury setback.
Poveda was absent from the squad on Friday night as the Black Cats secured a 2-1 win over Sheffield Wednesday, a game in which head coach Régis Le Bris made five changes in a bid to refresh his side. Poveda is yet to make a league start for the Black Cats.
“Ian suffered an injury in the training session, we don't know yet know serious it is,” Le Bris said.
Though Le Bris was forced into two changes after Enzo Le Fée and Dan Ballard suffered injuries in the defeat to Hull City, he also opted to rest Chris Rigg, Dennis Cirkin and Wilson Isidor.
Isidor in particular has been one of the first names on the teamsheet this season but Le Bris felt the time was right to hand Eliezer Mayenda a start. Le Bris admits Mayenda has been frustrated by his lack of starts of late but praised his determination to take his chance.
"Wilson has done really well this season and for sure is one of the best strikers in the league,” Le Bris explained.
“At the same time, we need two or three strikers to be competitive in this league. It was the right time for him to recover a bit and Eliezer was ready, he's trained properly and been connected with the team.
"Eli is still learning, and you can learn even from the bench. He has shown character even when he was on the bench, and this was his reward. We have a very good striker [Isidor] and this is good for me. We need competition and we can feel that the players understand it's needed to be competitive as a team. You can't have just one striker, we need at least two and we are very lucky. In previous seasons, maybe it was difficult for Sunderland in this position. We have two now and we have to use them properly.
"The players are competitive and they want to win, they are frustrated when they don't play but we are really open with them. We can discuss every subject, even the hard ones, and Eliezer understood."
Sunderland’s win kept alive their faint hopes of automatic promotion, and Le Bris said his players just have to focus on themselves in the weeks ahead.
“All we can do is win our games,” Le Bris said.
“Our only goal is to win our games, and then after that, we will see how the race plays out and what the dynamic of the teams that are in the top three now is. We can’t control this part of the table, we just have to win and try to keep on improving our game level. As long as we are improving, and correcting some of things we are trying to work on, then that is all we can do.
“We are learning, and as long as we keep on trying to get better, we will keep on moving forward. Then, at the end of the season, we will see where we are. We cannot worry about anything else other than ourselves.”