Régis Le Bris addresses Sunderland's defensive issues and explains what is going wrong at set pieces
Sunderland have one of the worst defensive records in the Premier League this season and struggled again in Europe on Thursday night
Régis Le Bris says he does not want to compromise Sunderland's playing identity but that adjustments will have to be made with their defensive struggles persisting.
Defeats to Coventry City and then Dinamo Zagreb in the Europa League have underlined Sunderland's struggles in their man-for-man pressing system, which has been a cornerstone of Sunderland's playing style and identity under Le Bris in his two years on Wearside.
It has left the Black Cats exposed regularly on the break and the head coach says it has been a key topic of conversation in recent weeks. Le Bris feels moving away from what has made Sunderland successful would be a major mistake, highlighting a similar moment the team faced during their Championship promotion season.
However, it's clear that the Black Cats are likely to be a touch more pragmatic as they bid to rebuild some confidence and their defensive platform.
"It's a good point," Le Bris said.
"Do you want to step back with your own identity or do you want to address the problems with one of the pillars of your own identity? It's the second point, definitely. I remember the first year I was here against Watford, we lost 2-1 I think and the second goal we conceded was exactly in this situation with Dan Neil exposed in 1v1, a penalty.
“After the game we had this conversation with the group. Do we decide to get rid of the man for man or do we accept the risk? Manage the problems and then if we are really good at that we'll impose a strong pillar in the game and in the season. We went for the second because if after a goal, a difficult period you always change your mind, I think you lose your players.
"You never know who you are, you never know what pillars you can believe and it's the beginning of the end I think. So second idea. You have to commit but it's still possible to adjust a few things. We had a long conversation with the players before the game, after Coventry because Coventry was a problem as well. And they are aware of the two to three things you need to adjust to avoid some exposure."
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Le Bris also addressed Sunderland's defensive set piece struggles, having conceded an almost identical goal for Dinamo Zagreb's opener to Lech Poznan's equaliser in Poland a fortnight ago. Though Wilson Isidor was on this occasion off the pitch at the time of the goal receiving treatment, Sunderland again left opposition players unmarked on the edge of the area and overloaded the six-yard box.
Le Bris insisted that the team were not being set up to defend in this way, and that he was confident it would not be repeated after discussions behind the scenes.
"We had this conversation with a few players in the dressing room on Friday morning," he said.
"What happened? 'I don't remember exactly'. I think you remember but emotions... humans are not robots to be fair. It's clear. So when you are involved in a situation you can make mistakes. Even the most experienced players on the pitch can make mistakes. And it's really weird and even unexpected but it happened. At least we are aware and we wont commit three times the same mistake.
"It's crazy and for the players it's the same. They accept, 'I did this, it's crazy'."
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