Sunderland youngster details European ambition after Régis Le Bris compliment

Sunderland youngster Ben Middlemas has detailed his side’s ambition to qualify for Europe again next season.

Middlemas was rewarded for his fine youth team form with a spot on Régis Le Bris’ bench for the game against Watford in the Championship at the Stadium of Light recently. The former South Shields loanee was also called up for first-team duties earlier this season against Millwall last year, with the first team struggling for numbers before dropping back down to play with the under-21s.

The Black Cats crashed out of the PL Cup on Monday night against Burnley, losing 1-0 away from home in challenging conditions. Graeme Murty’s men have also recently exited the National League Cup and the PL International Cup, meaning their focus now turns to the Premier League 2.

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Indeed, with four games left, the 20-year-old midfielder is hoping Sunderland can repeat last season’s trick of qualifying for Europe once more. Sunderland performed well in the group stages of this campaign’s competition and missed out on qualification to the knockout stages by a single point.

“Obviously, we've got four games left, so the main objective is to get top 12 again so we can get into the International Cup next year, Middlemas said. “We've just got to take each game as it comes and try and win each game. I think if we do that, then we've got every chance to finish really high in the table.

“It's a tough one to take,” Middlemas added after losing to Burnley. “We're already out of the International Cup, the National League Cup, so we're hoping to get far in this tournament. Obviously, it's disappointing to go out on this way. We conceded a sloppy goal. It's a tough one to take, trying to get back into the game. It's something we need to get better at, but it's really disappointing.”

“It's the way football is now,” Middlemas added when asked about Burnley’s defensive set-up after going a goal ahead. “When teams go up 1-0, 2-0, they sit behind the ball, and it's difficult to break down. I think it's something that we definitely need to get better at as a team. We do create a few chances, and I think the next step is just putting it away. If we get a 1-0, the game will come back up again, and we might get a 2-0 or 3-0, but it's just trying to get that first goal.

“We had chances before when it was 0-0, we had chances in the first minute, in the first ten seconds we had a chance. Putting that away, it's a difficult game. When you've got possession, it's obviously positive. We know we're a good team on the ball, and I think the next step is to create more chances and put them away. Obviously, having a lot of the ball is always a positive.”

With normal captain Harrison Jones now working mostly with Le Bris’ first-team, Middlemas has been handed the armband by lead coach Murty, a role the former South Shields loanee is relishing both on and off the pitch during the 2024-25 season.

“I'm really enjoying it,” Middlemas added. “I'm one of the senior players, so I'm trying to help the younger players in the team. Obviously, we've got a few under-18s with us, and they're doing really well. I'm just trying to encourage them and help them get back.

“It's more about encouraging them because we know how good they are; they're very good players. Obviously, when they come up to the 21s, they're going to make mistakes, and sometimes they might get too hard on themselves. It's senior players like me who've got to try and bring them back up because we know how good they can be.”

Middlemas concluded: “Finn (Geragusian) has shown it, and he's scored a lot of goals for us, and he's got us a few results on his own. Just trying to get them back up mentally and encourage them on because we know what they can do.”