And Sunderland’s head coach says the fact he has a fully fit squad to choose from for Friday night’s semi-final first leg at Coventry shows he was right to tinker with his side and rest key players in the final weeks of the regular season.
Sunderland secured a fourth place finish in the Championship with weeks to spare but go into the play-offs on the back of five straight defeats, a run which saw the Black Cats drop to the bottom of the league’s form table.
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However, Le Bris believes Sunderland’s underwhelming displays in recent weeks have a lot to do with the fact the pressure was off, and said: “We respected all of our previous opponents but the story is the story.
“You can say during pre-game presentations this is play-off mode but the reality is it’s not. It’s different.”
Sunderland have scored just one goal in their last six games but must now somehow flick the switch and rediscover top form as they prepare to face Coventry, who moved up to fifth on the final day thanks to their win over Middlesbrough and the fact Bristol City could only draw with Preston.
Sunderland are expected to be boosted by the availability of Romaine Mundle and Aji Alese, who were both set to resume first team training on Friday.
And, regardless of recent results, Le Bris thinks his approach to the final weeks of the season has helped to ensure he has a fully fit squad to choose from.
“It’s been strange and unusual,” he said, reflecting on the run-in.
“But it was a big achievement to secure fourth place one month before the end of the season.
“That shows we were really consistent before, and with a small squad we decided to rotate on purpose with the target of having our best players available. And that is going to be the case.
“For everyone in the room here, you can consider that if you have 60% of your players available or 100% available it’s not the same.
“Our target is to have everyone fit and if that’s the case then it was the right idea (to rotate).”
Le Bris pointed to Sunderland’s record in games that mattered this season as cause for optimism ahead of the play-off campaign.
He said: “For these games, the decision making will be really important and it’s connected with the story.
“When we’ve played these games during the season, the players have shown they are really well connected and they have learnt from their experience. I hope they will be at their top.”
