Sunderland have staked out their position on under-pressure Regis Le Bris – and believe he still has the backing of the dressing room to turn around the Black Cats’ season.
Sunderland will not be sacking Le Bris and see him as “central” to the club’s plans and ambitions despite a run of form that has seen them lose four of their last five Premier League games and drop to the foot of the table.
The club accept results have been unacceptable and recognise supporter frustration but it’s understood that Kyril Louis-Dreyfus and Florent Ghisolfi are “on the same page” when it comes to Le Bris’ future.
‘Stability’ at the Stadium of Light
There’s a feeling inside Sunderland that the situation is retrievable and “does not feel broken”. The i Paper has been told that senior players and the dressing room are “very much still with him”.
A decision was taken to communicate Sunderland’s position on Le Bris on Monday morning to stave off any speculation about his future. Saturday’s damaging 3-1 defeat at Coventry set alarm bells ringing after similarly limp defeats against Bournemouth and Brighton.
But there is belief that Le Bris remains the right man to turn things around, with the club believing “stability”, “collective responsibility” and a “united approach” are the best response to Sunderland’s issues.
January plans
The i Paper understands that recruitment meetings have taken place recently and the club are prepared to back Le Bris in January if required. Part of the issue is that Sunderland’s summer signings have taken time to bed in – but there’s a feeling that there are signs of green shoots when it comes to Malick Fofana, the Black Cats’ big deadline day capture.
Sunderland have won one game all season (Photo: Reuters)Add to that drops in the level of the likes of Granit Xhaka and Robin Roefs – two key men last term – and the razor thin margins they were coming out on the right side of last season have suddenly swung the other way. Correcting that is going to be key to extricating themselves from trouble – and Sunderland are trusting Le Bris to do it.
It feels like the right call given he has built up substantial credit after a wonderful first season in the Premier League. Results in Europe – and progress into the last eight of the Carabao Cup – are a decent counter-point to woeful domestic form but patience is unlikely to be unlimited.
Louis-Dreyfus has made big calls before when he feels things are not going in the right direction but club sources are adamant that this is different.
The underlying stats
Indeed it’s understood the club are also taking into account advanced performance metrics in their assessment of the season so far. In a reversal of last season – when they far out-stripped their xG for most of the campaign – Sunderland are performing considerably worst than performances and chance creation suggest they should be.
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Sunderland: Four reasons behind the Black Cats’ slump Mark Douglas: How Sunderland plan to fix their second-season syndromeThey are 11th in Opta’s “expected points” table, although the Black Cats track deeper metrics than that. The feeling is that things need to “click” and the fact that the season is only eight games old suggests they need more time.
Sunderland have back-to-back home games against Dinamo Zagreb and Chelsea before the international break and need results in both. A Europa League win would maintain momentum in that competition before a game against a hit-and-miss Blues side that were well-beaten at the Stadium of Light last season.
Part of the reason for Sunderland’s continued backing of Le Bris is that against the better teams this season (think the brave defeats against Arsenal and Manchester City) that have tended to perform well. They need that to happen again this week.
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