Sunderland sealed a huge win over Nottingham Forest on Saturday evening

Régis Le Bris said his Sunderland side won’t be getting carried away despite their win over Nottingham Forest on Saturday.

Omar Alderete’s set-piece goal saw Sunderland take their eleventh point of the campaign just six games in and while thrilled with the defensive resilience of his team, the head coach said there is still much to improve.

“We can't expect anything if we don't defend properly,” Le Bris said.

“Nottingham Forest are really good on the ball, many threats, many different profiles, wingers, strikers, midfielders, even the defenders are really good on the ball. So it was obvious coming here we had to defend really well, mid-block, low-block even a bit higher in the first half, we did well, not perfectly but enough to keep a clean sheet.

“The result is positive but when you look at the different phases and moments in the game we have many things to improve. We are at the level for some of the parts but for others it's pretty obvious we have to improve. For example, the way we build-up the play under pressure. There's room for improvement.

“The most important thing is to have 11 points. When you can win points, do it because it's not easy. We can't become complacent. That's absolutely impossible. The lads are well connected with this idea. They are proud to win away but aware that we have to be better in many points in our game model.”

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Le Bris explains his key Sunderland defensive call

Le Bris also praised Arthur Masuaku for his performance at left back, having made the difficult decision not to bring Dan Ballard back into the side following Reinildo’s red card.

“It was the most natural option, left-back for a left-back,” Le Bris said.

“He did well.It wasn't easy because he got a yellow card early in the game and their wingers are really powerful and strong in one vs one, so it was an important decision to change after 60 minutes. It's still a question of momentum and feeling during the week.

“We analysed the previous game deeply so we can feel the dynamic and the consistency is really important so I didn't want to change to go to a back five early in the game. It worked well even if it wasn't perfect.”

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