The Black Cats have effectively been preparing for the start of the play-offs for the last month, and while their results might have tailed off badly, Regis Le Bris insists that the time has not been wasted.
Some key players have returned from injury, while others have been afforded a much-needed rest.
With the two-legged semi-final having the potential to be settled on penalties, Le Bris has also ensured his squad have been practising spot-kicks, something that has been their Achilles heel this season.
The Black Cats have missed four of the five penalties they have been awarded this term, with Patrick Roberts, Wilson Isidor and Luke O’Nien all having missed from 12 yards.
“When we qualified for the play-offs, the first thing was to look at the availability of our players,” said Le Bris.
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“Two years ago, at Luton, the backline wasn’t the backline expected to face this kind of challenge. So, this was our main idea and now, we have, more or less, a full squad. I think this is a big positive for us.
“After that, the penalty shoot-out. It was clear that it would be important to us to train this part of the game. Especially for us as, this season, we have struggled, so we started to work on this around a month ago.”
When O’Nien missed a spot-kick in March’s win over Millwall, there was a major debate over who should take Sunderland’s next penalty.
The club have not been awarded a penalty since, but Le Bris has revealed that a plan is in place if the referee points to the spot over the course of the next two games.
“Do we know our penalty taker? Yeah, I hope so,” said the Sunderland boss. “Hopefully, we can lift our percentage of success!”
Le Bris has also been working on trying to make his Sunderland side less predictable, and has hinted he could have a few tricks up his sleeve for tonight’s first leg.
“We have looked at the different elements of our game-style, just to become a little bit less predictable,” said the Black Cats boss. “I think, after 46 games and a lot of video analysis, it’s easy to understand what the strengths and weaknesses of a team are.
“So, we wanted to open two or three different options, and a meeting on Wednesday morning was really important for this. Just a few subtle details that could make a difference.”
