Régis Le Bris delivers honest verdict on Sunderland's Europa League draw with Lech Poznan

Régis Le Bris said he felt Sunderland’s draw with Lech Poznan was a step in the right direction following their disappointing defeat to Bournemouth last Sunday.

There was frustration for the Black Cats in Poland having taken the lead just two minutes in the game when Timur Tutierov scored his first goal for the club, missing a number of subsequent chances and pegged back by substitute Leo Bengtsson’s goal in the second half.

Le Bris said there were positives from his team but that they remained a work in progress, having named a young side with a number of unfamiliar partnerships.

“It was a really open game,” Le Bris said. I think we started really well. We expected this atmosphere and this style of play from our opponent, I think they are a good team. After the first goal, they showed they have quality to build up under pressure and go through our block when we were a bit open. They created chances as well. But we created lots of our own chances, and I think we deserved to score the second goal, but we didn’t. In a stadium like this, against a good team, the momentum can switch really quickly, and that happened. It was a good experience though. We started the game with seven players who were under 23 years old, so they need to experience these intense situations, against a good team, to get better.

“Lech Poznan were brave and played good football, as expected,” he added.

“You need to be really well balanced in every phase of the game against that. I think we were not clean in our mid-press, but I think that is normal when you play a starting XI like this because we do not have the same references. You need time to create that. But we were able to find solutions.”

Le Bris said it was a valuable learning experience for the team as attention turns to the Premier League on Sunday.

“I think it was the right reaction,” Le Bris said.

“We played well against Torreense and Alkmaar too. Because we lost a few games in the Premier League, it doesn’t mean that the players or the team are weak. That is not the case. It is a question of details sometimes, and confidence as well. Those games are useful for the players and team to grow.”

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