Sunderland fell to a 5-3 defeat against Manchester City on Sunday afternoon

Régis Le Bris said he was proud of the level his players showed in their defeat to Man City but said they have learned another harsh lesson about the importance of finishing chances.

The Black Cats created a glut of chances as Brian Brobbey scored a hat trick but were punished ruthlessly for their defensive lapses as Man City scored five to secure a 5-3 win. Le Bris said his team had shown over the course of the past week that they are improving as a side but that they needed to assess the mistakes that led to their defeat.

"It's a defeat but we are proud of the level of the squad," Le Bris said.

"We created many chances, probably deserved to score two or three more goals. At that level against one of the best teams in Europe, half chances get punished and it's probably the lesson of the day.

"We also have to analyse our performance. It will take the next week to understand what happened exactly! I want to take the positives on one side because we played with the identity we want to show every day, whether it's against City, Alkmaar or Arsenal one week ago.

"So we are getting better. Obviously it's not perfect but we played good football."

Le Bris also said that he felt Sunderland should have had a penalty when Elliot Anderson appeared to handball as he challenged Enzo Le Fée in the penalty area early in the second half. Sunderland were trailing 3-2 at the time and just moments after the incident, Antoine Semenyo scored his second of the game to put Manchester City 4-2 up.

Though Brian Brobbey scored this third shortly after, the Black Cats were unable to get back level in the game.

"It's hard to say, it looks like a handball to me," Le Bris said.

"I don't know [why it's not given]. They don't explain, they just say yes or no."

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Le Bris said it was a positive that his side had managed to create so many chances over the course of the game.

"It's about the quality of our players," he said.

"The gameplan was really clear, about how we were able to manage the spaces and when they went tight we have Brian, who's a really good target, and when they decided to protect the central area we got an overload, so we managed the situation really well."

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