Sunderland Head Coach Régis Le Bris has made clear that the momentum that the Black Cats currently have in the Championship is being fuelled by “confidence” within all parts of club. Le Bris was also complimentary of defender Chris Mepham, as well as explaining how his coaching differs from in-possession to out of possession. Daniel Wales reports.
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00:00There is quite evidently a feel-good factor at present on Wearside.
00:06Plenty of supporters came to watch Sunderland train at the Stadium of Light earlier in the
00:10week, with head coach Regis Lebris leading a small revolution.
00:16The momentum is interesting because of confidence, and confidence for us, and if you use it properly
00:22I think you can create, you can try many elements.
00:34With frustration, with fear, it's not possible.
00:38And for the opposition, because they know that we are doing well, probably they won't
00:42take so many risks.
00:44So the momentum is interesting at that moment.
00:47But when you are on the top of the table, the teams try to win against the first.
00:58So it's a new challenge for them as well.
00:59So it's always a question of balance.
01:03Sunderland's improvements this season have come in all areas of the pitch, with Lebris
01:07explaining how his coaching differs from when his team are not in possession of the ball,
01:13to when they do have it.
01:18We have many rules for both, I think, it's very important.
01:26The defensive side, I think, are the foundations.
01:30If you are very well organised out of possession, you create, you can create confidence for
01:37the team because it's still nil-nil.
01:39So you can win with only one goal.
01:42When you concede one, two, three goals, you need to score one, two, three goals to win.
01:48So this part of the game is very important for us.
01:50And it's probably easier to improve that part of the game because you don't have the ball
01:57in your feet, it's easier.
01:59But it's an important part of our game.
02:02And if we defend properly, we can score very quickly in counter-attack, as we did for the
02:07second goal against Oxford, for example.
02:10And then in possession, we have freedom, but the game model, we have always a very good
02:19structure to organise the movements and to prevent the counter-attacks when we lose the ball.
02:27Perhaps one of this season's unsung heroes for the Black Cats has been Chris Mepham.
02:33His defensive solidity has certainly impressed his head coach, who spoke highly of his contributions.
02:40Very important because of his level, of his behaviour, of his experience as well.
02:48He's very important and he's very connected with the way we want to improve as a team.