Regis Le Bris’ Sunderland squad admission after Hull defeat

Regis Le Bris’ Sunderland squad admission after Hull defeat



Sunderland have made six additions so far this summer, with a seventh set to be confirmed within the next 24 hours as Granit Xhaka completes his €20m switch from Bayer Leverkusen.

However, the Black Cats remain determined to continue their signing spree, with the acquisition of a goalkeeper, a centre-half and another forward still key priorities.

Sunderland’s squad is still likely to be in a state of flux when the Premier League season begins with a home game against West Ham in two-and-a-half weeks’ time, which Le Bris concedes is far from ideal.

But despite the ongoing changes, the Black Cats boss is confident his team will be ready for when the real business begins.

“I would like, as a manager, the full squad available from scratch,” said Le Bris. “But we “know this is never the case.

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“We know the rules of the market which will run until the end of August, so our main focus is to work with our players, the players we have available. At the minute, they are working well.

“In an ideal world, you would have everyone in place but it’s never possible. So, we manage the situation.

“For a player like Reinildo, for example, with his background and experience, it will be easier for him [to settle quickly] than a young lad. Of course, you want time for the communication and the understanding, but this is the case for our opponents as well.”

Sunderland continued their pre-season preparations with a 2-1 defeat to Championship side Hull City last night.

The Black Cats were the better side when they had their first-choice team on the pitch, before tailing off in the final 20 minutes when Le Bris changed all ten outfield players.

“I think it was a good test,” said the Sunderland boss. “The pre-season is set to create new habits through different experiences, so we tried to build our game model with new players and we need to live different experiences.

“This was the case at Hearts and we struggled to deal with direct play, we managed this situation with more efficiency here, so we are growing as a team.

“We need two or three more games to be ready.  We are in our learning process and we need negative experiences. The game against Hearts was really useful because of what it showed about intensity, fighting spirit.

“The Sevilla and Sporting games were slower and about control, we were good in this area, but the reality of the Premier League will be intensity as well. We faced this new problem, and it was obvious today that our players had learned, so we are learning.”

Two of Sunderland’s summer signings combined for last night’s goal, with right winger Chemsdine Talbi setting up left winger Simon Adingra for a slick first-time finish into the bottom corner.

“We believe that these two wingers will have a huge impact for our game and against the opposition defence, but they need time,” said Le Bris. “To create references, to understand the connection with their team-mates. And this is in games as well as an in training.”



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