Sunderland have suffered a significant injury setback

Régis Le Bris has confirmed that Romaine Mundle is set to be sidelined for a ‘few months’ with a serious knee injury.

Mundle has not featured in the last couple of matchday squads, with Le Bris revealing after the 1-0 win over Hull City in the Carabao Cup that he had undergone surgery. He now looks set to be absent until the festive period and while the Sunderland head coach says it is a significant setback for the youngster who had worked so hard to put his previous hamstring issues behind him, he says he knows he retains the full backing of the club.

“Romaine has had meniscus surgery so he's going to be sidelined for a few months,” Le Bris said.

“It's really tough because he worked so well during the pre-season, the summer. We are really disappointed for him. He is disappointed for sure but we'll support him until he gets back. He knows he has the club's backing and that helps. He's still a good player. Sometimes you go through difficult periods, that's the case. With his hamstrings last season and now this meniscus, he's really unlucky.”

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RLB’s verdict on Sunderland’s win over Hull City

Sunderland booked their place in the fourth round thanks to a superb second-half goal from Chemsdine Talbi, and the head coach said he was pleaded with the attitude his entirely-changed XI showed.

“Pleased with the result first of all,” Le Bris said.

“With eleven changes, it's clear that it's not easy for the players to find the references. We train together, but the reality is always the competition. I think we started well, with good energy. After that we had a more difficult period, less composed probably. The beginning of the second half was much better, we imposed our intensity, we scored, which was important. After that, in the last part of the game, they pushed a bit but we stayed solid.

“With this competition, I think we go step by step,” Le Bris added.

“These guys showed today that they are competitive. We played with 11 new players, which means that we have eleven others from the game against Brentford. So we have 22 at the minute and with that we can play every competition. With injuries we'll see but at the minute we're happy to go forward.”

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