Sunderland Head Coach Régis Le Bris has defended his current squad amidst talk of the need for reinforcements in January, with injuries mounting up. Le Bris also discussed Millwall’s equaliser on Saturday and Sunderland’s current form. Daniel Wales reports.
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00:00Sunderland will not want conceding late goals to become a recurring theme in their bid for
00:07promotion from the Championship. Four points lost in the final few minutes of their previous
00:11two games has allowed Leeds United to join the Blackcats and Sheffield United at the
00:16top of the table.
00:18The results against Coventry and Millwall more recently will clearly have caused great
00:22frustration to Regis Labrice, who has always made clear that defensive salinity provides
00:27the foundations for a team to compete, although the Blackcats do still boast the fourth-best
00:33defensive record in the league.
00:36Labrice outlined that mistakes were made in the build-ups to the goal conceded on Saturday,
00:40but tried to give an explanation for them.
00:43When we analysed the clip back, it was clear that we could score. I'm not sure, but probably
00:53when in that situation, because you expect it to score, probably we had one second, two
01:01seconds and we were a little bit disconnected and we made probably five or six mistakes
01:07in a row. It's too much, really too much. And it's not silly mistakes, but just a question
01:12of disconnection, probably. And at the end, it's a shame because we can make two nil and
01:22then it's a 1-1.
01:24Sunderland's recent form shows four draws in a row, which, given the Blackcats' season
01:28so far, could be categorised as something of a dip. But Labrice was quick to point out
01:33that results could well be worse.
01:37Bad periods are still important to build the foundations, I think. And the way we are managing,
01:46it's not really a bad period. It's a period with less points, probably, and four draws
01:52in a row. But probably we could struggle more. It's possible. We can lose many games. Having
02:00a long sequence of defeats is still possible. And during these periods, I think it's the
02:07right time to refocus on what we are doing properly, what we have to improve, for sure,
02:12but what we are doing properly, what are our qualities.
02:15With January fast approaching and injuries mounting up, Sunderland may consider reinforcements,
02:20although Labrice was keen to defend the versatility of his current crop of players.
02:27Probably we'll have three or four more players available during December. So I don't know
02:34if it should be needed. We'll see. Because I think my main focus and the main focus of
02:39the staff is to enjoy the squad we have, instead of rather than searching for new players
02:48away. Probably we have many, many strengths in our squad. Some of them were injured. So
02:55when they will be available, we'll have many players in many positions.