Sunderland boss explains his Simon Adingra first-half sub and surprise changes at Manchester United

Régis Le Bris said his decision to bring Simon Adingra off in the first half of Sunderland's defeat to Manchester United wasn't down to his own individual performance.

Le Bris said he needed to make a change to prevent Sunderland falling further behind in the game, having gone 2-0 down after Benjamin Sesko's goal. Le Bris ultimately changed formation, bringing Dan Ballard on for Adingra and moving to a back five.

The Sunderland head coach felt his side needed Ballard's physicality to deal with the host's direct play.

"I don't think it's just a question of one player, that's never the case," Le Bris said of withdrawing Adingra.

"It was a question of the main dynamic of the team, it wasn't efficient. It was probably really important to change something otherwise the score could have been different."

Le Bris had sprung a surprise with his starting XI, bringing Adingra back in ahead of Chris Rigg and replacing Chemsdine Talbi with Bertrand Traoré. The move arguably backfired with Sunderland unusually open through the first half, but Le Bris said it was important to give players time to adapt to the Premier League.

"In our squad we have different options and our philosophy is to give opportunities to everyone," Le Bris said.

"If you work well, if you come off the bench and show good qualities then you'll have your opportunity to play. After that, because this league is really demanding you can't switch one game and you're at the level so you always need time and support."

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Régis Le Bris delivers verdict on what went wrong for Sunderland against Man Utd

Le Bris said his Sunderland side learned a valuable lesson at Old Trafford after a poor first half saw them lose 2-0 to Manchester United.

The Black Cats produced an uncharacteristically sloppy first-half performance, conceding goals to Mason Mount and Benjamin Sesko. Sunderland struggled to cope with the threat of Amad and Bryan Mbuemo down their left flank, with Le Bris switching to a back three around half an hour into the game.

That did lead to an improvement in the team, though Senne Lammens had few saves to make on his debut for the home team. Le Bris said it was crucial to maintain perspective despite the loss but says his players have seen how quickly then can be opened up when they fall short of their best level.

"I'm disappointed, because I think we that didn't start well," Le Bris said.

"We were aware of their threat, how they can be direct and threaten from the second balls. They created from this point, their right side was very strong with Mbuemo and Amad. We were aware of this and prepared for it, but sometimes the reality is different. For 30 minutes, we were not able to manage this part of the game and probably we were a little bit sloppy on the ball as well, so we were just not always at the level required. Then at 2-0 game down the game is completely different, they sit deeper. We tried to go man for man and to try to create something a bit more simple for us. It was a question of duels, two or three chances for us and two or three for them. In the end our reaction wasn't enough.

"It's a good lesson for us today, when we don't start properly either individually or collectively, you can feel that you are really fragile. You concede chances and can't express yourself with the ball. Even if Man Utd have struggled, they have always had the ability to create danger. We didn't manage their strengths properly, so in this case you can't expect anything. When we pushed a bit more we felt we create danger ourselves, but it wasn't enough.”

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